My Family - Cast and Characters

Cast and Characters

The series featured eight main cast members throughout its run, with numerous characters recurring throughout the ten series. The main cast members were familiar to television viewers before their roles on My Family, but not all considered to be stars. During the series' ten series run, the actors all achieved household name celebrity status.

The main characters in My Family are parents Ben and Susan Harper. They have three children, Nick, Janey and Michael. Nick is a regular character until the 2003 Christmas special, and makes one appearance in 2004's fifth series before making his final My Family appearance in the 2005 Comic Relief short as actor Kris Marshall wanted to do other projects and avoid being type-cast. Janey is a regular until the 2002 Christmas special and does not appear in series four (2003), while the character is at University. Janey returns as a main character in series five.

Abi Harper first appears in series three as the daughter of Ben's cousin Richard. Series three also sees the first appearance of Roger Bailey, Jnr. Roger, who becomes a main character in the fourth series, is a dentist and the son of Ben's former mentor. In the 2005 Christmas special Alfie Butts, a friend of Nick's, moves into the Harper household.

My Family also features several recurring characters. Series one features Daisy Donovan as Ben's dental assistant, Brigitte. In the second series "Stupid" Brian appears as Janey's boyfriend. Series four features Fiona, Michael's girlfriend. That series also sees the introduction of Hubert, a friend of Michael's, and Grace Riggs, Susan's mother, both of whom appear in subsequent series until series seven. A minor recurring character from the 2006 Christmas special to series seven is Denis, the local Vicar. In addition, Mr. Alexander Casey, the Harpers' neighbour, appears in three episodes, "Driving Miss Crazy" (2001), "Neighbour Wars" (2008) and "Mary Christmas" (2010)