What they got up to off the building site

So where the hell have you been then, pet?

Time has not been gentle on some of the characters of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, as we will see tonight. But what of the actors? How have they fared since life on a building site in Dusseldorf shot them to fame?

* Tim Healy (Dennis Patterson)

Now a veteran stage and screen actor, Healy has had a moderately good run on the box since the second series of Auf Wiedersehen, with major roles in The Grand, a 1920s upstairs/downstairs drama set in a hotel, and the Aussie comedy-drama Boys From the Bush.

He also appeared in the Britcom film Purely Belter in 2000, and found himself the subject of a This Is Your Life show in 1998.

* Jimmy Nail (Leonard Jeffrey "Oz" Osbourne)

He is forever Oz and God's own Geordie. However, Nail has had arguably the greatest success since Auf Wiedersehen's demise in 1986, with a career spanning TV, film and music.

His first post-Auf Wiedersehensuccess was the BBC series Spender, which he co-wrote with Auf writer Ian La Frenais. The next was Crocodile Shoes, a drama about a working-class bloke who wanted to be a pop star - much like Nail himself.

His include mega-Madonna-flop Evita and the moderately amusing Pom-rock flick Still Crazy.

* Kevin Whately (Neville Hope)

Whately's face will be familiar to many New Zealand viewers. He had a long run as Detective Sergeant Lewis alongside the late John Thaw in Inspector Morse, and spent four years as Geordie doctor Jack Kerruish on Peak Practice in the mid-90s.

His film work has included The English Patient (bomb disposal expert Sergeant Hardy) and more recently Purely Belter.

* Timothy Spall (Barry Taylor)

Now an accomplished film actor, Spall often pops up in American as well as British productions, including Mike Leigh's Secrets and Lies and Topsy-Turvy and, most recently, roles in Rock Star and the Tom Cruise vehicle Vanilla Sky. He was made an OBE in 1999.

* Christopher Fairbank (Albert Arthur Moxey)

Fairbank's had the least TV success of the Auf Wiedersehen survivors, with only a clutch of relatively minor parts since 1986. He appeared in Nail's Spender and Crocodile Shoes and was spotted in the films Batman, Alien3 and The Fifth Element.

* Pat Roach (Brian "Bomber" Busbridge)

Curious fact: Roach's real nickname is Bomber. He is an ex-wrestler who was once British and European champion.

Roach has a long career of bit parts, including some in Hollywood hits such as the Indiana Jones trilogy, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Willow.

He now runs a fitness centre in Birmingham.

* Gary Holton (Wayne Winston Norris)

RIP, Wayne. Holton, a one-time rock singer, died in 1986 during the filming of the second series. He was 33. An inquest found he had huge amounts of heroin and alcohol in his system.

* Noel Clarke (Wyman Norris)

A relative unknown, Clarke has been cast as Wayne's son in the new series. He has appeared in The Bill and Casualty.