5. Dominic Monaghan Robert, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
Before playing the much-loved hobbit Meriadoc Brandybuck, Dominic Monaghan played Robert, a huffy young supermarket worker who spent his time hanging around with an old battleaxe in the BBC's Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. Quite why a young lad would choose to spend his time helping a pensioner solve mysteries rather than see his girlfriend is frankly a mystery in itself. Set in Darwen, Lancashire - where it seems to be raining every single day - there somehow always seems to be people up to no good despite the small population. Is there a higher concentration of villainy in the North West? Robert helps Mrs. Wainthropp uncover fraud, larceny, GBH and murder, we're expected to believe that all of these things go on in such a small town under the noses of the local constabulary. And if an elderly lady was to come across organised crime in real life, would her first instinct not be to call the police? Unless she's the irritating Patricia Routledge of course, who even had a pop at the BBC for cancelling the show without telling her first. Boo hoo. Unbelievably, Monaghan was cast in The Lord of the Rings at the same time he was appearing in the show.