When the BBC drama series This Life launched in 1996, it was instantly compared to Friends, mainly because both shows focused on a group of twentysomething pals navigating careers, life and love. However, if anyone tuned in to the British show expecting cosy chats in a coffee house and PG-rated romance, they were in for a shock.
This Life featured sex, drugs, nudity and even a debauched wedding where one of the guests enjoyed an ecstasy-fuelled blowjob in the toilets. We don’t think that ever happened at Central Perk.
The series, which ran for just two seasons in 1996 and 1997 (plus a reunion special in 2007), focused on five law graduates sharing a shabby house in south London.
Starring Andrew Lincoln, Daniela Nardini, Amita Dhiri, Jason Hughes and Jack Davenport, it launched TV careers both in front of the camera and behind the scenes, with Martin Freeman popping up in the first episode of season two, Jodie Whittaker appearing in the reunion episode, and a pre-The Office Ricky Gervais credited as the show’s music advisor.
Read on to discover what the main cast has been up to since This Life first aired.
Daniela Nardini
Scottish actress Daniela Nardini played Anna, who had an on/off relationship with housemate Miles throughout the series. Talented, tenacious and dripping with sarcasm, Anna got some of the best lines in the show – "If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a long bath and a short dress to get into" – and Nardini won a BAFTA for her performance.
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After graduating from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Nardini considered training to be a drama teacher before she was offered the role of Anna. “A lot of 16-year-old girls still come up to me and say, 'Anna is my role model'. And I think, 'Oh my God, she's a gin-swilling, chain-smoking, coke-snorter. I hope I haven't encouraged bad behaviour',” she told The Independent in 2006.
Following the series, Nardini appeared in the comedy drama New Town, and had guest roles in Vera and Lewis. She also starred as science teacher Esther Fairclough in Waterloo Road in 2012 and appeared on stage in theatre productions of Camille and A Streetcar Named Desire.
Daniela stepped back from acting when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and is now a trained psychotherapist based in Glasgow.
Andrew Lincoln
Best known for his roles in The Walking Dead and Teachers, Andrew Lincoln won the role of Edgar “Egg” Cooke in This Life shortly after leaving RADA at the age of 22.
The actor – whose real name is Andrew Clutterbuck – went on to appear in The Woman in White and the Channel 4 series Teachers, where he played probationary teacher Simon in the first two seasons. In 2003, he starred as Mark in Love Actually, appearing in one of the romcom’s most parodied scenes, in which Mark declares his love for Juliet (Keira Knightley) using cue cards on her doorstep.
Seven years later, Lincoln won the role that made him a global star, as Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead. He appeared in the first nine seasons of the hugely successful zombie action drama, returned briefly in series 11 and also appeared in spin-offs Fear The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.
More recently, he starred in the ITV drama series Coldwater.
Jack Davenport
The son of actors Nigel Davenport (Chariots of Fire) and Maria Aitken (A Fish Called Wanda), Jack Davenport first appeared on screen in the John Cleese comedy Fierce Creatures in 1997.
Following that performance, he auditioned for the role of sexist law graduate Miles in This Life. “Miles was a twat in a lot of respects, an unreconstructed public schoolboy, but I loved playing him,” he told The Guardian in 2014.
When the series finished, Davenport went on to have a successful career in TV, film and theatre. He appeared in The Talented Mr Ripley and three of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, playing James Norrington, the naval commander who proposes to Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley).
He was a regular cast member of the sitcom Coupling, and also appeared in The Good Wife, The Morning Show, Dr Death and Ten Percent, the British remake of Call My Agent.
More recently, James has starred as James Forsyte in period drama series The Forsytes, alongside Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore in the thriller series The Assassin, and as Laurence Olivier in the upcoming movie Vivien & The Florist.
He is married to Michelle Gomez (aka Missy from Doctor Who) and the pair became naturalised US citizens in 2023.
Amita Dhiri
This Life’s ambitious Milly is best remembered for a scene in which she punched her rival Rachel in the face at a wedding. It was Amita Dhiri’s first major role, and following her appearance in the series she went on to guest star in shows including Dalziel and Pascoe, Holby City, Judge John Deed and Silent Witness.
In 2010, Dhiri won the role of Grace Dasari in long-running drama The Bill, appearing in more than 90 episodes.
The Brighton-born actress, who sang in a touring cabaret group impersonating Janet Jackson and Tina Turner before she went into acting, most recently appeared in the third season of Bridgerton in 2024. She played Mrs Khanna, the housekeeper of the Kent estate inherited by the Mondrich family.
Jason Hughes
Welsh actor Jason Hughes played openly gay lawyer Warren, a role considered ground-breaking at a time when few mainstream dramas featured gay lead characters.
"The best thing about that whole experience was the amount of letters I got from young gay lads who saw the show and said it gave them strength and the courage to tell their parents that they were gay. I found that deeply touching," he said in an interview with The Arts Desk.
Hughes is now best known for his long-running role as Sergeant Ben Jones in Midsomer Murders (2005 to 2013), and he has also appeared in dramas including Waking The Dead, Death In Paradise, Marcella, The Pact and Beyond Paradise.
The actor also has an impressive stage career, which began when he was just 16, when he applied for the National Youth Theatre of Wales and acted on stage for the first time alongside friend Michael Sheen.
They also appeared together in a 1999 production of Look Back in Anger, and Hughes has starred in To Kill a Mockingbird, Caligula, and most recently Nye at the Olivier Theatre in London in 2025.
Ramon Tikaram
It was motorbike courier Ferdy who got lucky in the toilets at the end of the second season of This Life, by the way – and he was played by Ramon Tikaram. Ferdy joined the show at the end of the first season and was a major character in the second as he struggled with his sexuality and feelings for fiancée Mia and close friend Warren.
After the series ended, Tikaram starred as Judas in the West End production of musical Jesus Christ Superstar and built up an impressive acting CV, appearing in series including sports drama Dream Team, Silent Witness, Happy Valley, Game of Thrones and Primeval.
In 2009 he took on the role of Qadim Shah in EastEnders, and also starred in the psychological thriller Fortitude. Fans will also recognise Tikaram as nasty Terence McCann from Brassic, as Victor Aziz in Pennyworth and as Charon in the mythological series Kaos.
Ramon is the brother of pop singer Tanita Tikaram and early on in his career released his own pop singles ‘Johnny’s Coming Home’ and ‘Hey!’ in Germany.
Natasha Little
Rachel joined Milly’s law firm in the second season of This Life and made quite an impression, revealing to a heartbroken Egg that Milly had cheated on him.
Actress Natasha Little had already had a recurring role in the drama series London’s Burning, and following This Life she went on to appear as Becky Sharp in the BBC adaptation of Vanity Fair, as Liz Cromwell in Wolf Hall and as Caroline Langbourne in the first series of The Night Manager alongside Tom Hiddleston.
More recently, she has had lead roles in thriller series Absentia, the 2019 adaptation of War of the Worlds and 2022’s Ten Percent, which reunited her with This Life co-star Jack Davenport.
Natasha is married to Miranda actor Bo Poraj.
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Freelance film & TV writer, Digital Spy
Critic and writer Jo Berry has been writing about TV and movies since she began her career at Time Out aged 18. A regular on BBC Radio, Jo has written for titles including Empire, Maxim, Radio Times, OK!, The Guardian and Grazia, is the author of books including Chick Flicks and The Parents’ Guide to Kids’ Movies.
She is also the editor of website Movies4Kids. In her career, Jo has interviewed well-known names including Beyonce, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Kiefer Sutherland, Tom Cruise and all the Avengers, spent many an hour crushed in the press areas of award show red carpets. Jo is also a self-proclaimed expert on Outlander and Brassic, and completely agrees that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
