Charlie Ross has spent the last six years establishing himself as one of the top stand-up comedians in the country. He has received warm plaudits for his laid-back charming style, which he uses as a platform for observations on life and popular culture.

 He has staged two shows at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival, "Charlie's Angles" (2002) and "Tracksuits and Munchkins" (2003) for which he received warm reviews and played a number of sell-out shows.

 Charlie trained at Heriot-Watt University and attained a degree in Physical Education. During his studies he worked as a singer both in clubs around the country and with a band, Score. It has been however in the field of stand-up comedy that Charlie has shone. He has supported many of the UK's top acts and has played in top venues including the Comedy Store and Jongleurs.

 As a former PE teacher, and from the West of Scotland, his observations on his life as football-loving lad with a penchant for West End musicals have been enjoyed by audiences all over the country.

He also has extensive radio credits in Scotland. Charlie, a self-confessed and “outed” Doctor Who fan will soon be performing as the villain “Lest” in a Doctor Who audio adventure called “Memory Lane” with Paul McGann as the Doctor. Charlie has also made several appearances as evening entertainment at a series of Doctor Who and Sci-Fi conventions.

Janet’s most recent film credit is playing Kerry Finch in Sam Jackson’s Secret Video Diary, which was nominated for the Raindance award in 2005. Her television credits include Heartbeat, Doctors, Crimewatch, Peak Practice, Wing and a Prayer and East Enders.

She is a classically trained actress and works mainly in theatre and television. She spent the early part of 2005 in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco touring in As You Like It for the Peter Hall Company.  This was followed by a season at the Theatre Royal, Bath in Private Lives and Much Ado About Nothing, before climbing into her pink bubble in Cardiff to play Glinda and Auntie Em in The Wizard of Oz at the Wales Millennium Centre.

2006 has seen Janet embarking upon various small budget film projects along with her continued work with the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, where she regularly takes part in the Restoring the Repertoire play reading season.

Graeme graduated from Guildford School of acting in 2006, just before shooting ‘Early One Summer’.  Before that he played the part of a crook in Hollyoaks, (Channel 4) and has recently had a guest starring role in the BBC daytime soap ‘Doctors’ (BBC), Screening in 2007. During Christmas 2006/7 he will be in ‘Oliver’ at the New Vic, Staffordshire.

Gary originally studied for a degree (BSc) in Digital Imaging whilst working at a local newspaper company. He spent most of 2003 volunteering, firstly spending 6 months with the New Producers Alliance, and then at the London Film Festival where he volunteered in the delegate centre. 

In February 2004 he directed and edited a short film ‘He came with wheels’, about a rent boy, his client and a wheelchair.  The short was screened in the new short film corner market section at Cannes in May, and screened at the first Liverpool Homotopia exhibition, as well as the Croatian music and film festival, the London Humanitarian Association Film Festival, and the London Disability Film Festival.

In March 2004 he received a training bursary from Screen South, and attended classes with Chris Thomas at the directing actors workshop and Elliot Grove’s writers lab, both at Raindance.  He also attended the ‘industry reader’ class at the script factory, and has read scripts for Raindance Productions.

In August Gary received funding from Disability Arts Development Agency (DADA-South) for ‘Coming Out’.  This was originally conceived as a split screen gallery installation. 

In October he was selected for the Scene Insiders training scheme, run by the Script Factory, and went to Poland where participants learnt about what makes great screenplays, at the  Polish Film School, Lodz.

In 2006 he was a warded a grant from the Arts Council to produce artist film and video, looking at the difference’s between Narrative film and Artist film. The main piece of work was a collaboration between Gary Thomas and Abbie Norris, ‘Madness as a form of relaxation’.  Early One Summer is Gary’s 3^rd piece of work.

Work so far:

He came with wheels (short film), 4 film festivals around the world 2004/2005

Coming out (split screen installation piece) commission by DADA-South, Dada-South Launch 2004

Early One Summer (short film) Independent Production 2006/2007

Madness as a form of Relaxation a collaboration with Abbie Norris (installation Piece) Arts Council funded 2006/2007

Why I didn’t (work in progress, single screen artist video with voice over) Arts Council funded.  2006/2007

Gary is also working on several short film ideas, including a World War 2 drama, and feature script ideas. These include ‘Same Time Next Year’, a coming out comedy set at a New Years Eve Party, and ‘Darren Green’, about a Gay couple living in New York who end their relationship on negative terms.

James Tucker’s love for film began at the age of 13 in Bristol where he grew up.  He bought his first video camera with money inherited from his grandmother and began to create lots of short home movies with his friends that included horror films, comedies and dramas as well as the more usual family video footage of holidays and parties.  All his films were edited linearly by connecting his camera up to home equipment (VCR’s, stereo system) through a mixing desk.

Aged 19 whilst working full time, he joined HTV (now ITV West) Television workshop.  He spent two years there learning filmmaking techniques in weekly seminars and workshops taught by HTV Wales Director Peter Watkins-Hughes.  He took part in many of the students own films – taking roles as AD, boom swinger and general production assistant.  His own film, Parental Guidance – a 25 minute drama, was written and directed by him, and shot by HTV Cameraman Henry Bateman on BetaSP. 

In 2002 he moved to Brighton and studied for a Film & Video degree at Northbrook College Sussex.  Here he was able to study both theory and practice, discovering directors that have shaped his vision and fuelled his desire to make films such as Sally Potter, Andrei Tarkovsky and Fassbinder.  After graduating with a 2.1, James has set up his own company Regions TV with 3 friends met through college and video production work.  They currently create corporate videos and ITV Local short programmes and commercials. 

He has acted as camera operator on Richard Swingle’s Once Were Boy’s, Mike Crisp’s This Above All – shot in the south of France, and was recently DoP on the Brighton feature film Dogberry and Bob.  He lives and works in Brighton.

Sandy has been a musician since he was born, an actor since 1990 a comedian since 1997 and a writer since next year. You'll have seen him as John Wallace in Braveheart, Chris the Postie in Still Game, on the stand up stage or at the Halt Bar. His first play Metrosexual will be on at Oran Mor in early spring 2007.

Chris Thomas is an experienced director of theatre and short film, and teaches the Directing Actors Workshops at Raindance in London. He runs the Edit room at Diorama Arts Centre.

Crew:

(C) COPYRIGHT GARY THOMAS 2004-2006