Which actor/actress were you surprised to discover is hugely connected?

Jennifer Aniston’s dad was also an actor.

The Sawalha sisters and their dad.

Through her father that's hardly surprising!

Jack Black’s mother was Judith Love Cohen, eminent NASA scientist and one of the leading women in the space programme in its early days.

Also in the US, Anderson Cooper and Marissa Haritgay are worth looking up!

I’ve known for ages now but when I found out big mo from eastenders was Gary oldmans big sister I was surprised!

Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal are from a very old-money family descended from Mayflower passengers who were among the first westerners to settle in America.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus's father is a billionaire shipping magnate.

I think Jennifer Aniston is related to the Onassis's somehow as well.

It's a shame, they were all filthy rich to start with, they don't need the extra money from acting.

I've never got my head round the fact that Shirley McLaine and Warren Beatty are siblings.

Can't for the life of me see any resemblance.

And Gary Oldman and that actress from Eastenders....er, sorry - can't remember her name (duh).

He didn't create it.

Absolutely re Lawrence. Shame, he should have stuck to acting, he was good in Lewis.

Oliver Reed was the nephew of director Sir Carol Reed (The Third Man and others) and grandson of Sir Herbert Beerbohm-Tree, renowned Victorian thesp. He was very much of the Michael Caine/ Peter O'Toole/Albert Finney etc generation of actors so went a bit under the radar in being well connected.

Toby Stephens is the son of Dame Maggie Smith.

Yes, I think Meghan must have spent a lot of time as a child and teenager hanging around film sets. Not the ideal environment...and maybe explains a lot.

But her dad was doing his best, I suppose.

Tracey from Emmerdale is the sister of Kimberley Walsh from Girls Aloud.

I know just what you mean! She has a 'moneyed' face - it's really hard to explain, but you just know she comes from a well-to-do background - sort of sleek and 'thoroughbred'. i guess that's why she was cast as Camilla.

She looks a bit like the young Camilla (though not much...) but from what I've seen, heard and read about Camilla, she was nothing like her portrayal in The Crown.

He wrote the UK script

He is. He was a writer and script editor for television – the man writes his own novels. So does Charlie Higson – again, another talented writer for TV (see: Fast Show). In fact, there are a slew of "celebrity" authors who shouldn't be chucked in the same vat as Walliams, who are either trained journalists – Judy Finnegan, Jeremy Vine, Ferne Britton – or wrote for TV – Frankie Boyle.

FWIW, my understanding of the situation with Walliams (I'm an writer too by trade), is that he definitely comes up with the theme and the horrible stereotyped characters and plots the books out, but someone else writes them up.

Stath's sister plays Nadia in What We Do In The Shadows!

The Barrymore dynasty is so crazy to me.

Drew Barrymore’s Grandfather, John Barrymore said “It looks as though I’ll have to join the family curse, acting.” (In 1902!)

I think Eric Thompson created the magic roundabout not just narrated it.
You think wrongly.
Le Manège enchanté - Wikipedia

The drummer in a band I like worked as an Asda delivery driver during lockdown.

I think Eric Thompson created the magic roundabout not just narrated it.

Anyway, I loved bad sisters with the actress Eve Hewson a great actress with a very famous rockstar Dad!

I'm in two minds over the whole nepo baby thing.

I absolutely think it stinks that it's pushed out other talented people who don't have those opportunities.

But I also get irritated by untalented influencers who get roles just because of how many followers they have on Insta/TikTok. I remember years ago, on Neighbours, they cast a girl as Scott and Charlene's daughter, and she was AWFUL. I mean by neighbours standard of taking on newbies and training them up she was bad, but because she had a big social media following that's why she was cast.

Anyway I digress.

There's another part of me that thinks if they are rich nepo babies, they are somewhat protected from the industry, particularly when you think of the horrors of the casting couch/Weinstein. Or when you hear horror stories of the childhoods of people like Macauley Culkin or Jeannette McCurdy, who were treated abysmally by their parents because they were the breadwinners - even Britney would come under that bracket.

Has anyone mentioned Meghan Markle, whose father is an Emmy award winning lighting director and director of photography?

Yeah anyone other than the singer from Suede couldn't have been picked out of a police line up even by people who bought their records.

What influence would he have decades later in the realms of light entertainment television/literature?

The guy from Pulp worked in a call centre. After they were famous.

Charlie Higson does write his own books. Getting Rid of Mr Kitchen, probably about 30 years old now, is one of my favourites!

Although not mega famous, Rupert Graves has managed to carve out a prolific acting career without any prior connections that I'm aware of. It probably helps that he's likely very easy to work with and get along with.

Please tell me Richard Osman is the exception to your rule. I'm also reluctant to believe Charlie Higson doesn't write his own books. They both rose to prominence in roles that required a fair amount of writing as well as performing, after all.