Syd Woolsey

Syd Woolsey is Maurice's right-hand man - a dependable cornerstone of the Invisibles crime gang, once the terror of British detectives.

He originally acted as the gang's dependable getaway driver (despite having no license) and alarms expert. But his personal life has proved to be a bumpier ride: he has four wives and three divorces under his belt and struggles with the single life. One of his failed relationships has also produced a troublesome son called Joe, a loveable ne'er do well who is the apple of Syd's eye - but unlikely to be the next Einstein.

Unlike Maurice - who is Syd's rock - Syd is one of life's optimists. Though he can be quite naive - a character trait that tends to get him into trouble.

Warren Clarke was born in Oldham in 1947. He left school at the age of 15 and started working as a copy boy on the Manchester Evening News. The acting bug first bit when he started performing in amateur dramatics, taking plays to Huddersfield and Liverpool.

He made his TV debut in Coronation Street as two different characters, Kenny Pickup (in 1966) and Gary Bailey (in 1968). He went on to play one of the boorish sidekicks in Kubrick's controversial movie A Clockwork Orange.

He has also popped up in numerous TV classics over the years, including Blackadder the Third, The Avengers, The Onedin Line and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. In the nineties, he became best known for Dalziel and Pascoe, where he plays hard-bitten DS Andy Dalziel.