MorwennaBanks

After winning roles in Radio Active and Week Ending for Radio 4, her first big break in TV came when she was teamed up with Jack Docherty and Gordon Kennedy for Channel 4's hit sketch show Absolutely.

It offered a perfect outlet for Banks' chameleonic ability to take on a wide variety of characters and accents (most famously playing a little girl with a very warped sense of wisdom).

Her talents won the rare accolade of being noticed in America, where she was hired as a performer in the final series of Saturday Night Live before landing a role in global hit sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Refusing more offers from L.A. Banks returned to Britain and in 1998 was given her own starring vehicle in another Absolutely production for newborn Channel 5.

As well as reprising her young girl routine she introduced a host of new characters and, despite the show's low budget and unashamedly low-brow humour, her charm helped it find favour with critics if not huge viewing figures.

Since then Banks has continued to appear in high-profile comedies including Saxondale and The Return of Harry and Paul and in 2007 again showed her versatility by writing and starring in ITV pilot The Abbey: spoofing celebrity rehab centre The Priory.