Charles Sturridge

Born: June 24 1951
Where: London, UK

The director is probably best known for the TV version of the Evelyn Waugh classic Brideshead Revisited.

Starring Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews, the eleven-part series won seven BAFTA awards and an Emmy for Laurence Olivier as Lord Marchmain.

Educated at Stonyhurst College, he first appeared on screen as a teenager in Lindsay Anderson's controversial If in 1968.

He also portrayed the young Edward VII in the 1970s TV series before the elder role was taken over by Timothy West.

Sturridge directed episodes of Coronation Street in the 1970s before gaining international recognition for Brideshead Revisited in 1981.

He made his big screen debut with the drama Runners in 1983 and went on to provide the black and white segment La Forza del Destino from 1986's Aria.

Returning to Evelyn Waugh, he memorably adapted A Handful of Dust and went on to bring EM Forster's first novel Where Angels Fear To Tread - starring Rupert Graves and Helen Mirren - to the big screen.

In 1993, he directed the critically acclaimed comedy drama A Foreign Field, starring Alec Guinness, and Fairy Tale: A True Story was based on the legend of the Cottingley Fairies.

On the small screen, the 1996 mini-series, Gulliver's Travels and the BAFTA-winning Shackleton consolidated his reputation.

Recent work includes the big screen adaptation of the family favourite Lassie with Samantha Morton and Peter O'Toole.