Here is a list of the main characters on Covington Cross along with some information about them.

Sir Thomas Grey, played by Nigel Terry, was the lord of Covington Cross.  He struggled to raise his family on his own and was constantly finding his children in some kind of trouble.  His wife Anne died when their children were young, and he tried to raise them the way she would have wanted it.  He was a true nobleman, being close friends with King Edward and the other nobles of England.  Sir Thomas' biggest problems always occurred around Baron John Mullins, who was dead set on seeing that Thomas and his family were out of his way.  Sir Thomas was a very fair and loving father, but he sometimes got caught between what he thought was right for his family and what they really wanted.

Tim Killick played the eldest brother, Armus Grey.  He was the first son to be sent to fight in the Crusades, and he went to uphold his rightful place in the family.  It was his duty to fight for his country and make his family proud.  During one battle, he made his first kill in self-defense, which he never forgave himself for (until he confronted his past).  He gave up fighting from that moment on and became a cook for the knights, never telling his family.  When Armus returned home, he eventually told them, and they turned out to be much more understanding then he was expecting.  Armus once confided in Richard that he wished more than anything to be the second son.  Nothing was expected of the second son, while the first had to carry the weight of the family.  He told Richard that he could pursue whatever was in his heart, while Armus had to pursue what was in his father's.  He was a gentle giant, who always liked to help people no matter what the cost to himself. 

Richard Grey was Sir Thomas and Anne's second son, played by Jonathan Firth.  Richard was an opinionated, stubborn young man, quite the opposite of his older brother Armus.  He always dreamed to be the first son, to be the one that his father was proud of.  He put his family above all else, as was shown in one particular episode called "Brothers".  He fell in love with a woman named Charlotte Wyatt, and earned her affections as well.  It turned out that Armus had a crush on her too, so Richard refused to see Charlotte because of his brother's feelings.  Armus finally accepted their love and allowed Richard to see her without the guilt.  Richard always followed his heart and did only what he believed was right.  He liked to see himself as more mature than his siblings, not joining their childish antics.  Richard knew how to have fun though, he just did it more in moderation.  He seemed to only participate in their "games" when there was a certain element of danger involved (throwing axes at each other, sword fighting, betting on which bone Eleanor would break if her horse threw her, etc.).

Eleanor Grey was played by Ione Skye.  She was Thomas' headstrong daughter, who would rather be out riding horses and shooting the crossbow then acting like a lady.  She struggled with what was socially acceptable for women, because she would rather be herself than what her father wanted her to be.  In the last episode, "Brothers", Eleanor gave up her tomboy ways and asked Lady Elizabeth to help her become a lady.  She was tired of having the men ignore her and wanted to finally be what her father expected of her.  That was a big step for Eleanor, because she always pretended to hate Lady Elizabeth for taking her mother's place in her life.  Secretly she always respected and admired Lady Elizabeth, but was too stubborn to admit it.  Lady Elizabeth was happy to teach Eleanor how to be a true lady, not only did it help Eleanor be noticed by the men in the town and her father, but it also brought the two women closer together.

Glenn Quinn played the good-looking, charismatic younger brother Cedric.  It was Cedric's mother's dying wish to have him join the clergy.  Since her eldest son Armus had to go fight in the Crusades, she wanted to spare her youngest son the horror of war.  Cedric grew up to want to be a knight like his older brothers, though.  He didn't have the patience or the desire to learn the ways of a cleric.  He would have rather been chasing women or practicing training to be a knight than sitting in a church reading the Bible.  Cedric was also quite a ladies man; he once seduced a young nun into falling in love with him!  He also courted Alexandra, Baron Mullen's daughter, until he decided she respected her father too much for him to bear.  Even though he tried to explain to her that her father was not respectable, Mullen's always twisted Alexandra's emotions around to make him seem like a good man.

Paul Brooke played the Friar of Covington Cross.  He was an important addition to the castle, although he may not have always felt that way.  When Cedric was training to be part of the clergy, the Friar was the one to teach him. Once Cedric convinced his father that joining the clergy was a bad idea for him, the Friar didn't really feel he had a purpose anymore.  He was always there when someone needed him, though, and he could always be counted on.  When Sir Thomas asked the Friar to write a book about what goes on at Covington Cross, he wrote it quickly and didn't leave out a detail (Thomas later burned the book because of its embarrassing nature though).  Another time was when Rachel, a woman accused of being a witch came to the castle.  The Friar went up against the abbot to try and save her life.  He could have lost his place in the church because of that, but he took the risk to save her life anyway.

Cherie Lunghi played Lady Elizabeth, Sir Thomas' girlfriend.  All of Thomas' children liked her except Eleanor, who thought that she was trying to replace their mother and take their father away from them.  Lady Elizabeth started out as Eleanor's music instructor, but gave up when she realized that she was just wasting her time.  She was always nice to Eleanor when she had the chance, hoping that the girl would warm up to her, and it eventually worked.  In the show's last episode, Eleanor came to Elizabeth requesting her help to act like a lady.  She had two children of her own, Adam and Lenore, who lived in France and managed her properties there.  She was very much in love with Sir Thomas and became very jealous when he fell in lust with his dead wife's sister.  She knew that he was only in love with Brittany because she reminded him of Ann, but it took awhile for him to realize that Elizabeth was the one that he really loved.

James Faulkner played Baron John Mullens, the enemy of Covington Cross.  Mullens always tried to ruin Sir Thomas and his family and take all of their riches, but it never worked.  He once changed the deed to their home to say that it belonged to someone else, and he thought that he was finally rid of them, but it didn't work.  They found the deed to Mullens' own castle and blackmailed him to get their home back.  Mullens acted like a nobleman in front of the king, his daughter Alexandra, and others above him, but he really was not a respectable person.  He and his son Henry used to pillage and steal from towns until his son's death by Eleanor Grey.  He still tried everything in his power to remove those in his way.  He once tried to marry his son to Eleanor to get his family into Sir Thomas', just so he could ruin them, but Thomas couldn't do that to his daughter.  He was a very smart man and never got caught for his crimes, but the Grey family always seemed to get in the way of his plans.