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Joe Crowley

Cast · Known for Countryfile

Joe is a broadcaster, journalist and history presenter best known for his regular reports on BBC1’s the One Show and Countryfile.

John Craven

Cast · Known for Countryfile

John Raymond Craven is an English journalist and television presenter, best known for presenting the BBC programmes Newsround, Countryfile and Beat the Brain.

Helen Skelton

Cast · Known for Countryfile, Blue Peter

Helen’s career started when she became one of the youngest breakfast presenters on BBC Radio Network at the age of 22, going on to present Newsround for CBBC. One of Helen’s longest standing roles was as presenter for the flagship children’s series, Blue Peter. Helen has become a beloved face of the BBC having worked on two Olympics in London 2012 and Rio 2016 as well as presenting the World, Commonwealth and European swimming competitions for the channel. Helen’s love of the great outdoors has been put to good use, being part of the Countryfile presenting team since 2012. In 2013 Helen was able to feed her love for travel by co-presenting BBC 1’s Holiday Hit Squad. Most recently, Helen presents The Instant Gardener, which just aired its second series on BBC Daytime.

Ellie Harrison

Cast · Known for Countryfile

Ellie Harrison is a geographer, naturalist and presenter. During her early travels she worked on a farm in Zimbabwe, canoed unguided on lake Kariba and spent many wildlife watching trips in both Zimbabwe and Canada, returning to the UK to study. Winning a scholarship from King’s College London she travelled to Zimbabwe to complete her thesis on development and elephant conservation. She has filmed wildlife all around the world, from Africa to the Americas. In the UK, Ellie has worked on a number of outdoor programmes, such as the BBC’s Wild about your Garden, The One Show, and Country Tracks. She currently presents on BBC One’s Countryfile and recently worked on The Great British Winter. Ellie spends time with her two daughters, sings country, plays occasional banjo, is a fair-weather diver, and cycles the hills.

Emma Mitchell

Emma Mitchell is a popular naturalist, illustrator and designer-maker. She trained as a scientist and has a particular interest in how simple acitivities can alter brain biochemistry in order to improve mental health. She has written segments for BBC Springwatch & Autumnwatch, featured on the BBC’s Countryfile and Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. Emma is one of the Guardian’s Country Diarists and has written for a number of publications, including Country Living, the ipaper, and Mollie Makes. Her first book, MAKING WINTER: A Creative Guide to Surviving the Winter Months, was published to outstanding praise in 2017, and her illustrated diary THE WILD REMEDY: How Nature Mends Us, was published in 2019 and became a Sunday Times bestseller.

Countrified Wedman

Robin Harley

Robin is the Countryside Area Manager for the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council.

Piers Stubbs

Piers Stubbs is a British actor who was born in the countryside of England. At the age of eight and having never acted before, Piers landed his first part at the Royal Shakespeare Company in the coveted role of 'William Page' in "Merry Wives of Windsor" at the historic Old Vic in London's West End, under Kevin Spacey.

Robin Whenary

Robin Whenary is an English cinematographer who grew up in the Devon countryside. After a First Class BA in Ancient History, he earned a MA in Cinematography at the National Film & Television School.

Jackie Copley

Jackie Copley is Campaigns Lead at CPRE, the Countryside Charity. For twelve years prior, she served as the Planning Director for CPRE's Cheshire, Lancashire, Liverpool City Region, and Greater Manchester groups, and has been involved with the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

Dani Thompson

Cast · Known for The Priest: Thanksgiving Massacre

Dani is a London-based model turned actress. Born in Penrith, Australia but moved to England aged 2 and grew up in the countryside, just outside of Norwich. Dani turned down the opportunity to appear in a TV commercial when she was 4 years old for fear of getting stuck in the TV. She started modeling soon after she finished college after a friend suggested she have some pictures taken by a local photographer, the pictures were seen by Supermodel Agency and she was quickly signed up. Dani graced the pages of most of the British lad’s magazine and newspapers and was a regular on the London party scene. When the glamour industry started dying down, the lads mags closing, Dani planning her next move enrolled at London drama school ISSA for a year to do a post-grad diploma in screen acting. Since graduating in 2010 Dani has built up an impressive list of credits mostly within the horror genre and has become labeled a ‘Scream Princess’. Filming has taken Dani all over the UK, as well as Europe and the USA.

Peter MacMillan

Cast · Known for Journeys in Japan

Peter MacMillan is a prize-winning translator, scholar, poet, and artist. He was born and grew up in a part of the Irish countryside surrounded by more horses than people. He graduated first in his class from the National University of Ireland, University College Dublin, and then went on to earn an M.A. in philosophy and a Ph.D. in English literature. He spent two years as a Visiting Fellow at Princeton, Columbia, and Oxford Universities. A citizen of both Ireland and Britain, he has lived in Japan for over twenty years and strives to be a bridge between Japan and the world. His artist name is Seisai. In addition to creating prints, Dr. MacMillan is also a poet and translator. His translation, One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each (Hyakunin Isshu), was published in 2008, winning prizes in both Japan and the United States. He recently completed an English translation of The Tales of Ise (Ise Monogatari), which was published by Penguin in 2016. He has also published a collection of poetry entitled Admiring Fields. MacMillan is a member of Pen America and the Japanese Pen Club and is a representative of the board of directors at the Japan Cultural Institute. He is also President of The Moon is a Boat Co., Ltd.

Azaan Symes

Azaan Symes is an Anglo- Persian actor from Brighton and Hove, Azaan completed his degree in International Relations at university and went on to pursue his creative interest in acting, graduating from Drama Studio London in 2018. Working across stage and screen, Azaan’s credits include The Merchant of Venice (Silvano Toti Globe Theatre Roma, Duke of York’s Theatre) and Killing Eve (BBC America) as well as commercials and corporate work. When not acting Azaan loves binging box sets, cooking Italian food and time in the countryside (fortunate for the time he’ll be spending on Exmoor!)

Rosalind Knight

Born in Marylebone, London, versatile character actress Rosalind Marie Knight was born to theatrical parentage. Her father was the accomplished thespian Esmond Knight. Her mother, the comedienne Frances Clare, often featured in Ivor Novello operettas. Rosalind's interest in theatre was first kindled at the age of six when she and her mother attended a staging of Novello's "The Dancing Years" at Drury Lane. Rosalind was evacuated to the countryside with her nanny during the war years. In 1949, she accompanied her father to the Old Vic Theatre and became enthralled by a production of "The Snow Queen", primarily performed by drama school novices. The following year she won an audition and spent two years at the Old Vic Theatre School. This was succeeded by a lengthy apprenticeship in repertory which led to her gaining further experience as assistant stage manager for the West of England Theatre Company, the Midland Theatre Company in Coventry and the Piccolo Theatre Company in Manchester. In 1955, she made her first impact on screen as a lady-in-waiting in Laurence Olivier's Richard III (1955), which also featured her father in the cast. A year later, having come to the attention of a movie producer, she played Annabel, one of the schoolgirls, in Blue Murder at St. Trinian's (1957) (decades later, she would return as a teacher in the sequel The Wildcats of St. Trinian's (1980)). This set the tone for a number of subsequent comedic roles which included a couple of early Carry On's and the Tony Richardson-directed Tom Jones (1963), in which she played the giddy Mrs. Harriet Fitzpatrick. While doing the Carry On films she was not under any form of contract and was paid a mere $50 a week. In 1957, Rosalind joined her father in an early BBC adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby (1957) as the spiteful Fanny Squeers. In a later miniseries based on Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1964), she was a splendidly shrewish Charity Pecksniff. During her prolific career, Rosalind relished every opportunity to portray a diverse range of characters, good and bad, from servants to princesses (Alice of Battenberg in The Crown (2016)) to old maids (Aspasia Fitzgibbon in The Pallisers (1974)) to wealthy socialites (Margot Asquith in Nancy Astor (1982)) and unpleasant aristocratic dowagers (Daphne Winkworth in Jeeves and Wooster (1990)). She even essayed a retired prostitute turned landlady in the sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme (1999). In addition to a staple of period dramas she guested in numerous episodic TV dramas, including Poirot (1989), Dalziel and Pascoe (1996), Heartbeat (1992), Marple (2004), Midsomer Murders (1997) and Sherlock (2010). All the while, she remained heavily engaged in theatrical work with the Old Vic, The Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Court Theatre, her last appearance being the strict, incorruptible governess Mrs. Prism in Shaw's "The Importance of Being Earnest". Rosalind was married to director/producer Michael Elliott from 1959. In 1976, she helped rebuild and re-open the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, of which her husband was involved as one of five artistic directors. She was also a patron of the Actor's Centre in London and the Ladies' Theatrical Guild (a charity founded in 1891). Rosalind Knight continued to perform as an actress right up to her death on December 19 2020, at the age of 87.

Jeremy Wheeler

Jeremy Wheeler is a British character and supporting actor born in Dover, Kent, England. He has lived in England, Zambia, France, and Hungary, and is currently based in the Hungarian countryside, where he is married and lives in an old farmhouse with his wife and four dogs. Before turning to acting, he graduated from London Metropolitan University with a Bachelor of Law, worked as a law lecturer at the City of London Police (2003–2008), and founded Anglaw Kft., an institute teaching English language and legal practice (2009). He made his acting debut in 2013 with the short film The Antique Vase and his TV debut as Rabbi Weiss in Houdini (2014), followed by his feature film debut as a Customs Officer in Anti-Social (2015). He is best known for Ship Officer in Yorgos Lanthimos's Poor Things (2023), Party Guest in The Brutalist (2024), Policeman in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022), Doctor Jacobson in The Crown (2017), and Rabbi Weiß in Houdini (2014). His filmography spans over 27 credits across film and television. Notable film credits include The Brutalist (2024, as Party Guest, with Adrien Brody and Cillian Murphy), Maria (2024, as Dorchester Tuxedo Man, with Rosamund Pike), Borderlands (2024, as Citizen, with Cate Blanchett and Charlie Hunnam), Poor Things (2023, as Ship Officer, with Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe), Dunki (2023, as British Judge, with Aamir Khan), Stockholm Bloodbath (2024, as Archibishop), The Invitation (2022, as Jonathan Harker), The Munsters (2022, as Mr. Gateman), Birds of Paradise (2021, as State Dpt. Official), Archive (2020), and The Childhood of a Leader (2015, as Mr. Deputy). On television he has appeared in The Crown (2017, as Doctor Jacobson), Vienna Blood (2019, Season 2), Halo (2022), Desperate Measures (2022, as Pawn Shop Owner, 2 episodes), The Fear Index (2022), FBI: International (2024, as Keith Edmonds), All the Light We Cannot See (2023, as Train Platform Officer), The Continental: From the World of John Wick (2023), Nuremberg (2025, as General Phipps), The Testament of Ann Lee (2025, as John Townley), and Death by Lightning (2025, as Reverend Hicks). His most recent credit is Duach in The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin (2026).

Kate Cook

Kate Cook is a London based actor descended from the famous Beerbohm family who's members include the actor manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree and his half brother Max Beerbohm, caricaturist and writer. She is therefore mostly British with a hint of German and Lithuanian. She grew up in the countryside with her parents and two sisters, where she became a dab hand at horse riding and lawn mowing before moving to London to attend drama school. After her training at Arts Ed and a short spell in the acting profession she stepped aside to bring up her two children before returning via an MA in Text and Performance at Kings College/RADA. Here she discovered a passion for writing, a skill which saw her trawling the London comedy scene as a stand up comic before penning her own one-woman show, Invisible Woman, which she performed to great acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival, Brighton, London and France. She then got the role of Mrs More in the cult horror hit Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist. More recently she has appeared for the BBC in Years and Years, Call the Midwife and Eastenders and can be seen in Seasons 5 and 6 of the Netflix series The Crown in which she plays Susie Orbach, Princess Diana's therapist.

Liz Bonnin

Elizabeth "Liz" Bonnin is an Irish television presenter and former pop singer, who has worked on television in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. She is also a biochemist and Wild Animal Biologist. She presented music shows RI:SE and Top of the Pops in the early 2000s. But is probably best known for presenting wildlife and science programmes like How the Earth Works, Animals in Love, Stargazing Live, Big Blue Live, Cats v Dogs: Which is Best? and Should We Close Our Zoos?. She co-presented the BBC factual series Bang Goes the Theory from 2009 to 2014. Since 2013, has co-hosted Countrywise for ITV.

Flynn Allen

Flynn was born in 2003 and started performing when he was five years old. His first television credit was as Lionel Mountstuart in Carnival Films 'Any Human Heart'. He has since gained wide experience in feature films, shorts, television, theatre (including Husbands & Sons at the National Theatre (2016)), and some voice and commercial work. 2022 has been a busy year for Flynn, he has worked on a long standing TV show, a new Disney plus project, 3 feature films and various short films. Flynn lives in the countryside on the outskirts of London, England, with his family and animals. He has two siblings, Poppy and Esme, who are also actors.

Zhang Jingchu

Cast · Known for Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Zhang Jingchu (张静初), born on February 2, 1980, is a Chinese film actress known for her versatility and international acclaim. She studied directing at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing and is fluent in English, having studied at the Beijing New Oriental Institute. Raised in a modest countryside family, Zhang rose to prominence with her breakout role in Peacock (2005), directed by Gu Changwei, which won the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. She went on to star in several critically acclaimed films, including Tsui Hark’s Seven Swords (2005), Derek Yee’s Protégé (2007), Florian Gallenberger’s John Rabe (2008), and Ann Hui’s Night and Fog (2009). In 2005, Time magazine recognized Zhang as one of "Asia’s Heroes," cementing her status as a rising star in international cinema.

Owen Teale

Owen Teale (born 20 May 1961) is a Welsh actor. Trained at the Guildford School of Acting, Teale made his television debut in The Mimosa Boys in 1984. He later appeared in Knights of God (1989), Great Expectations (1989), Waterfront Beat (1990) and Boon (1990) before being cast as Will Scarlet in the 1991 TV movie Robin Hood. He went on to appear in such series as Dangerfield, Ballykissangel and the long-running Belonging, and later Spooks and Murphy's Law. In 2005, he played a lead role in Marian, Again—opposite Stephen Tompkinson, Samantha Beckinsale and Kelly Harrison—in which he was the abusive husband of Harrison's eponymous character. His film debut was in War Requiem in 1989. He later appeared as Lophakin in the 1999 adaptation of The Cherry Orchard, opposite Charlotte Rampling as Ranevskaya and Alan Bates as Gayev. His appearance in King Arthur, as Pelagius, was relegated to the DVD extended edition. He played Nazi Judge Roland Freisler in the HBO film Conspiracy. In 2006 he appeared in the Torchwood episode "Countrycide"; in 1985, he had appeared in the Doctor Who serial Vengeance on Varos as "Maldak". In 2006 he had a role in the HBO UK TV movie Tsunami: The Aftermath. In 2007, he guest-starred in the Doctor Who audio drama The Mind's Eye. In the same year, he starred in The Last Legion. In 2011, appeared as Ser Alliser Thorne in the HBO TV adaptation of George R. R. Martin's novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, called Game of Thrones. Teale has been married twice: to Dilys Watling and then to Sylvestra Le Touzel. Description above from the Wikipedia article Owen Teale, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

John Nettles

Cast · Known for Midsomer Murders

​John Nettles has been a familiar face on British and International television screens for over thirty years. From his early beginnings in the UK hit comedy "The Liver Birds" (1969), he became a household name overnight playing the Jersey detective "Jim Bergerac". The series, "Bergerac" (1981), was a huge hit in Britain and was exported to many countries across the world including France, Spain and Greece, gaining him thousands of fans. His new found fame as Bergerac gave him almost film-star-like fame and fortune, not to mention thousands of female admirers! Despite "Bergerac" (1981) being mothballed in the early 1990s, the series still has a considerable fan base and lingering popularity abroad, especially in Jersey, where images of John Nettles are still used for advertising tourist attractions and other services on the island. Nettles' polished Shakesperean performances have won him critical acclaim and many consider him to rival fellow British stalwarts of theatre such as Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen. Oddly enough, however, he has never really ventured onto the big screen and has seemed happy to stick to stage and television throughout his successful career. Most recently he has enjoying continued success playing the straightforward DCI Tom Barnaby in ITV's _"Midsomer Murders" (1997). He is on record as wanting to create a TV detective without any of the usual tics, and consequently Tom Barnaby is a happy family man, who just happens to live in the most murderous part of an otherwise stereotypically idyllic English countryside.

Claude Berri

Producer · Known for Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra

Claude Berri (1 July 1934 – 12 January 2009) was a French film director, producer, screenwriter, distributor and actor. Berri was a leading figure of the French film industry both a director and as a producer. Following a short film that won an Academy Award, Berri achieved success with his first feature film, The Two of Us (1967). He then had a varied career, producing and distributing both mainstream and avant-garde films. During the 1970s, Berri's films as a director were mostly comedies but he later found increased success with several high-profile literary adaptations. In 1986, his two-part film Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring won public and critical acclaim, becoming his best-known work. He next directed Uranus (1990) and most notably Germinal (1993). In 1997, he directed the historical biopic Lucie Aubrac. Directors whose films were produced by Berri include Roman Polanski, Jacques Demy, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Claude Sautet, Miloš Forman, Claude Zidi, Jacques Rivette, Patrice Chéreau, Alain Chabat, Abdellatif Kechiche and Dany Boon. Born Claude Beri Langmann in Paris, Berri was the son of Jewish immigrant parents. His mother, Beila (née Bercu), was from Romania, and his father, Hirsch Langmann, was a furrier from Poland. In 1943, during the Nazi occupation of France, Berri's parents entrusted him for his safety to a family in the countryside. He spent the rest of the occupation being fostered by "an antisemitic couple" who were unaware that he was Jewish. His sister, screenwriter and editor Arlette Langmann, was born after the war. Berri's original vocation was to be an actor. He began a career in the early 1950s but struggled to find roles, which prompted him to turn to directing and eventually producing. In 1965, he gained notice for The Chicken, which won the Award for best short film at the 38th Academy Awards. In 1967, Berri directed The Two of Us (Le Vieil homme et l'enfant), a partially autobiographical film that told the story of a Jewish child, entrusted during World War II to a benevolent and antisemitic old farmer who remains unaware that the boy he is caring for is a Jew. The film was a great success in France and abroad. Berri also adapted the story into a novel, released the same year as the film. During the years that followed, Berri became active as a producer and film distributor while continuing to direct his own films. Also in 1967, with his associate (later brother-in-law) Jean-Pierre Rassam, Berri bought the international distribution rights for Miloš Forman's The Firemen's Ball which was a great success and was nominated to the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Berri's company, Renn Productions, which he had founded to produce The Two of Us, gradually became a major player in the French film industry. ... Source: Article "Claude Berri" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.