This meme is all over the place by now:

Comment to this post with "I surrender!" and I'll assign you the basis of some TV show idea. (Science fiction show, medical drama, criminal procedure, etc...)
Create a cast of characters, including the actors who'd play them.
Add in any actor photos, character bios and show synopsis that you want.
Post to your own journal.
Based on

lost_spook's prompt:

Future sf setting with an actor-turned-detective on the trail of a Shakespeare obsessed serial killer.

Their Exits And Their Entrances

When casting, I've plundered time and space, so I've annotated actors' names with the date from which I took them...

The setting

We are millennia in the future. Humanity has discovered a light-speed drive and spread into the Galaxy. Star empires have risen and fallen, alliances forged and unravelled. Orbiting a barren planet, Kroidan Base used to be the bulwark of a mighty kingdom, a powerhouse of war: now it's a backwater provincial city, home to a population descended from the original garrison and such travellers who, over the years, decided to make their homes there.

When it was a military installation, Kroidan Base consisted of a fortress and an oversized spaceport. By now, large areas of both have been converted rather haphazardly to living quarters, shops, factories and the like. The place is a maze, even to those who have lived there all their lives.

The Cast: Humans

Rufus Wood [Donald Sinden, c. 1980]

Ten years ago, Wood was the leading man in the acclaimed revival of that famous 22nd-century revenge tragedy, The Duke of Luna. Today he's eking out a living playing porters and comic footmen. Worse, he's just heard that the play is to be revived again — but this time, his arch-rival Seamus Jefferson is to take the title rôle.

In between the derisory parts that allow him to pay the rent, Wood likes nothing better than to drink himself to death with his favourite tipple — 'Miluvian', a pale blue liquid, which (according to nearly every other character) tastes revolting.

Seamus Jefferson [Patrick Stewart, c. 1990]

Jefferson is, as mentioned, Wood's arch-rival. Objectively, he probably isn't guilty of anything more than a little backstage rivalry, but in Wood's version of events he is a loathsome traitor who deserves to die horribly and painfully.

This makes things a little awkward for Wood when he does just that, live on stage, on the opening night of the new production of The Duke of Luna.

Abi Firth [Felicity Jones, c. 2005]

We first encounter Abi when she turns up on Wood's doorstep the morning after Jefferson's death. An aspiring actress, she was playing a soubrette rôle in The Duke of Luna, and (having a slight acquaintance with Wood) came to break the news of the death in person. Being one of the cast, she realises that she is under suspicion, and it is she who persuades Wood to begin his investigations.

Lieutenant Tamara Hafthorsdottir [Sarah Lam, c. 2000]

[Sorry, I couldn't find a suitable picture. If it's any help, she played the archivist in the only Lewis-less episode of Inspector Morse.]

The investigating officer in the case of Jefferson's murder, and the 'official' face of law enforcement in Wood's part of town. Brisk and straightforward, she finds Wood's mannerisms highly irritating, though she is eventually forced to acknowledge his grasp of human nature.

Michael Yarin [Greg Wise, c. 2000]

As the killer's modus operandi becomes clearer, it becomes obvious that an expert on Shakespeare's plays is needed. Unfortunately, the best that Kroidan Base can do is Michael Yarin, a minor academic who subscribes to the theory that Shakespeare's plays were really the work of an otherwise unknown pre-spaceflight author by the name of Terence Dickens.

Iago

The name assigned to the as-yet unknown killer of Jefferson. Apart from the fact that he leaves passages from the 'bad' first Quarto edition of Hamlet at the scene of his crimes, little is known of him at the start of the series. The name 'Iago' was suggested by Wood, as more suited to the killer's apparent character than any name from Hamlet.

The Cast: Robots

The robot characters are clearly robots; generally humanoid in outline, but impossible to mistake for genuine humans. This is achieved by costuming, makeup and, of course, the actors' performances.

Randolph [Stephen Fry, c. 2010]

Midway between butler and landlord, Randolph looks after Wood's rooms, collecting the rent when it is due, and gently chiding him about his untidy habits, late hours, and dubious guests.

Ten and Fourteen [Paterson Joseph and Martin Shaw, both c.2000]

Ten and Fourteen are military police robots, dating from several centuries ago when Kroidan Base was under military jurisdiction. Their archaic origin is demonstrated by their mannerisms; they speak and behave rather like Georgian fops. Their relationship to the current civil power is hazy; they insist that they have the best de jure claim to enforce the law in this sector of the Base. Lieutenant Hafthorsdottir tolerates them, provided that they don't get under her feet. They seem to take the same view of her.

The Pilot Episode

In the pre-credits sequence, Wood is seen in a spaceport bar, rehearsing his grievances; this is intercut with Jefferson, delivering a rousing speech in blank verse to a crowded auditorium. Wood spits out the words "I wish he'd drop dead!"; Jefferson obligingly does so.

After the credits, Wood is being escorted home by Ten and Fourteen, who have arrested him for drunken and disorderly behaviour. Abi is waiting on his doorstep with the news of Jefferson's death, at which Wood invites her in for, as he puts it, "a drink, and a gloat over my hated enemy."

These sentiments do not stand him in good stead when Lieutenant Hafthorsdottir arrives to interview him about the murder. Indeed, she finds his behaviour so suspicious that he is nearly arrested. Fortunately wiser counsels prevail: Ten and Fourteen are contacted, and provide sufficient information to convince Hafthorsdottir that, if not impossible, it is at least unlikely that Wood is the killer.

Once Hafthorsdottir has gone, Abi asks Wood to investigate: firstly to clear his own name, and, when that doesn't persuade him, to clear hers. Reluctantly, he agrees, and they set off for the historic Grainyard Theatre.

At the Theatre, they discover that Jefferson was seen leaving the building by a side exit, at a time when he was also on stage in front of a packed auditorium. They also, for the first time, discover the Shakespeare connection: a printed note, reading:

Begin, a pox, leave thy damnable faces and begin,
Come, the croaking raven doth bellow for revenge.

The rest of the episode concerns the hunt for the second Jefferson, and the question of how he entered the theatre without being detected. Several cast members come under suspicion, but no case can be proved against any of them. Eventually, the second Jefferson is traced to Pump Court, a high-status house some distance away.

Wood disguises himself as a technician, and attempts to bluff his way into Pump Court, claiming that he needs to inspect the air recyclers. He is allowed in, and promptly captured by the second Jefferson, who, rather than kill him, ties him up and begins delivering an interrogation composed of seemingly nonsensical questions.

Worried at Wood's failure to reappear, Abi goes in search of the police, and comes across Fourteen. From his conversation, she discovers that Pump Court was, at one time, a literal pumping station, and an underground pipe ran from it to the spaceport. Drawing its path on a map, she finds that it passed directly below the theatre. Though the pipe was long ago abandoned, perhaps the section between the theatre and Pump Court still exists. Abi asks Fourteen to help her, but he declines: Pump Court is outside his jurisdiction, and he has no authority there.

Back at Pump Court, the second Jefferson explains his plan. He has been asking the questions as a personality test so that he can find an appropriate Shakespearean passage for this, his second murder. Eventually, he makes his choice: "Oh, 'tis vile, and shows / A pitiful ambition in the fool that useth it." He draws a sidearm—

— and is enveloped in blue sparks, collapsing to the ground as Abi, Lieutenant Hafthorsdottir and the police burst in. Abi quickly explains what they deduced. The pipeline was not pressurised, so if the duplicate Jefferson did use it to get to the theatre, he must have been a robot made to look human: a feat that's technically possible but socially unacceptable.

The robot Jefferson is down, but not yet out. Interrogated, he reveals only that he has been programmed with the mind of someone whom he will not name — the person who has been described as Iago. And he's not the only one. There are others out there, others who will carry on the fight.

Our heroes' task is not complete, but barely begun.

Subsequently

The pilot set the pattern for the remainder of the first season. In each episode, one of Iago's robotic operatives would break cover by committing a murder, and would have to be tracked down. Though the heroes' intention was that they should be dismantled for evidence, most had to be destroyed. For the first three episodes, the robots resembled Seamus Jefferson (and were, accordingly, played by Patrick Stewart). In the fourth episode, the robot posed as a woman (played by Keeley Hawes), and thereafter the robot would be one of the episode's guest stars.

Episode 9 was the first one in which more than one character turned out to be a Iago-bot.

Episode 13 is widely considered a Missed Moment Of Awesome. In this episode, a naval delegation commanded by Commodore McKay (Brian Blessed) pays a visit to the base. Blessed's character shares only one, relatively subdued, scene with Wood, and that when Wood is in disguise as a waiter.