Derek Martin

Acting

Derek Martin

Born — Died

1933-04-11 — 2026-01-10

Place of birth

Bow, London, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

67 titles

Derek Martin was one of the most authentic working class voices in British film and television since the 1970s. Born Derek William Rapp in 1933, Martin was in the RAF for his National Service and took up a series of jobs including road worker, Smithfield Meat Market porter, and professional gambler, before entering showbusiness as an extra and stunt performer in a variety of programmes including Doctor Who. He retired from stunt work following an injury on Elizabeth I in 1971 and moved into acting. His most famous break out role was as the corrupt detective Fred Pyle in GF Newman's controversial 1978 drama Law & Order. In the following decade Martin had major roles in TV dramas such as The …

Known for

EastEnders poster
4.3

The everyday lives of working-class residents of Albert Square, a traditional Victorian square of terrace houses surrounding a park in the East End of London's Walford borough.

EastEnders

1985

Doctor Who poster
7.9

The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.

Doctor Who

1963

Ready, Steady, Cook poster
8.0

Talented chefs battle it out against the clock, creating delicious dishes in 20 minutes

Ready, Steady, Cook

1994

Play for Today poster
6.6

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

Play for Today

1970

GMTV poster
5.8

GMTV is the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end. The final edition of GMTV was broadcast on 3 September 2010.

GMTV

1993

Minder poster
7.2

Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.

Minder

1979

Film credits

1980s · 9 titles

Ragtime poster
7.0

A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence, and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York City.

Ragtime

1981

The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu poster
4.9

Fu Manchu's 168th birthday celebration is dampened when a hapless flunky spills Fu's age-regressing elixir vitae. Fu sends his lackeys to round up ingredients for a new batch of elixir, starting with the Star of Leningrad diamond, nabbed from a Soviet exhibition in Washington. The FBI sends agents Capone and Williams to England to confer with Nayland Smith, an expert on Fu.

The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu

1980

Dark Water poster
5.0

In order to enjoy a romantic private swim together, Jo and Eddie hide when their local swimming pool is closing for the evening. But unknown to them, a killer is on the loose - and in the building with them.

Dark Water

1980

Priest of Love poster
5.0

Following the banning and burning of his novel, "The Rainbow," D.H. Lawrence and his wife, Frieda, move to the United States, and then to Mexico. When Lawrence contracts tuberculosis, they return to England for a short time, then to Italy, where Lawrence writes "Lady Chatterley's Lover."

Priest of Love

1981

Spaghetti House poster
6.3

Three black militants kidnap the waiters in an Italian restaurant in London. Soon the victims befriend their kidnappers.

Spaghetti House

1982

The Hope and the Glory poster
NR

Sam, a quiet West Indian working as a London Transport ticket collector, strikes up an unlikely, but warm, friendship with Joe, an old man who has a room in the same house.

The Hope and the Glory

1984

Jake's End poster
NR

'Motors can stall, shooters can jam. But Jake's end of it'll be all right.' Jake's a professional, a married man with a reputation to maintain-and a bank to rob.

Jake's End

1982

Rifleman poster
NR

Private Semple returns to his Antrim home after the Battle of the Somme, the village's sole survivor from all the 'brave boys of Ulster' who volunteered; but the battle scars go far deeper than anyone suspects.

Rifleman

1980

The Aerodrome poster
7.0

In the future England is ruled by a fascist government, and one day the leaders begin the construction of a heavily guarded, mysterious airport. BBC adaptation of Rex Warner's 1941 novel of the same name. A stereotypical village in a somewhat alternative England is taken over wholesale by 'The Air Force.' Living in the village is young Roy, who has just learned he is not who he thought he was. Attempting to forge a new sense of identity, he joins the dashing Air Force, seduced by its dynamism and direct and brutal ways.

The Aerodrome

1983

1970s · 12 titles

Candleshoe poster
6.9

When ex-con artist Harry claims that a secret treasure is hidden inside Candleshoe, an English estate, he creates an elaborate plan to find and steal the prize. By convincing a girl named Casey to impersonate the estate owner's long-lost granddaughter, Harry hopes to uncover the treasure's location. But when Casey has a change of heart, she must follow the clues and find the treasure, in order to save Candleshoe and stop Harry before it is too late.

Candleshoe

1977

The Sex Thief poster
5.4

A struggling pulp fiction writer who doubles as an incompetent jewel thief. He gets caught in the act every time, but he uses his looks and charm to make the best of it. Soon he becomes a celebrity. Wealthy women start leaving their jewels out like milk and cookies for Santa Claus in hopes that the sex thief will unlawfully invade their domiciles.

The Sex Thief

1973

The Roses of Eyam poster
7.0

William Mompesson retells the heroic true story of the inhabitants of Eyam, Derbyshire, who he convinced to sacrifice themselves during a visitation of the plague.

The Roses of Eyam

1973

Print-Out poster
NR

Corrupt builder Ballard is approached by Bernie Fermor, a young computer engineer with a roll of names from Ballard's business which he intends to blackmail him with. Ballard plays it cool and then has the engineer followed,he wants the Mr Big behind the demand, but the engineer is found dead.

Print-Out

1979

Keep It Up, Jack! poster
3.8

Failed music hall performer Jack James inherits a brothel when his ancient Aunt dies. He takes over the running of the business and falls in love with its star attraction, beautiful prostitute Virginia.

Keep It Up, Jack!

1974

Doctor Who: Inferno poster
8.6

UNIT is providing security cover at an experimental drilling project at Eastchester, designed to penetrate the Earth's crust and release a previously untapped source of energy. Soon, however, the drill head starts to leak an oily green liquid that transforms those who touch it into vicious primeval creatures with a craving for heat. The Doctor is accidentally transported "sideways in time" by the partially repaired TARDIS control console into a parallel universe where the drilling project is at a more advanced stage. Thwarted by his friends' ruthless alter egos, he works to save both universes.

Doctor Who: Inferno

1970

Adventures of a Plumber's Mate poster
4.3

Randy plumber Sid South enjoys a profession which offers him ample opportunity to bed sexy housewives.

Adventures of a Plumber's Mate

1978

Eskimo Nell poster
4.0

Three young men, a scriptwriter, a producer and a director are called in by Benny U Murdoch, an exotic movie producer. He wants to make a new erotic movie starring a big woman - the "Eskimo Nell" of the title. However problems start from the beginning, the scriptwriter is a virgin, a lover of penguins and hasn't a clue on how to write an erotic movie, each of the three main backers want a different type of movie - a western, an erotic and a kung-fu movie with different people in the main part. However problems really start for the three when Benny runs off with all the money and they have to make three different versions of the same film and try not to let the backers and stars know what has happened. And this is made harder when there is a clean-up-filth society breathing down their necks....

Eskimo Nell

1975

Doctor Who: Image of the Fendahl poster
7.0

The present day: just as the Fourth Doctor and Leela arrive in Fetchborough, England, Professor Fendelman prepares to experiment on a fossilized skull which science says should not exist. The skull is actually an artefact of the Fendahl, a god-like being who feeds on the life force of others. It has begun to awaken and kill. Worse yet, others seek to exploit the Fendahl's dreadful power.

Doctor Who: Image of the Fendahl

1977

Another Day poster
NR

The London of bed-sits, rundown housing, a world of the eccentric and the lonely. Since her husband walked out Eileen battles on her own to make a life for her children. She needs someone-but some people don't think George is the right man.

Another Day

1978

Bet Your Life poster
NR

Like alcoholism, gambling is a disease. Ches, a compulsive gambler, is sent for medical help. A wonder drug perhaps? Or hypnosis maybe? Ches finds that his psychiatrist has other ideas.

Bet Your Life

1976

Diversions poster
4.9

Whilst on a train journey a beautiful woman fantasizes about a series of bizarre sexual encounters.

Diversions

1976

1960s · 3 titles

Series credits

EastEnders poster
4.3

The everyday lives of working-class residents of Albert Square, a traditional Victorian square of terrace houses surrounding a park in the East End of London's Walford borough.

EastEnders

1985

Doctor Who poster
7.9

The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.

Doctor Who

1963

Ready, Steady, Cook poster
8.0

Talented chefs battle it out against the clock, creating delicious dishes in 20 minutes

Ready, Steady, Cook

1994

Play for Today poster
6.6

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

Play for Today

1970

GMTV poster
5.8

GMTV is the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end. The final edition of GMTV was broadcast on 3 September 2010.

GMTV

1993

Minder poster
7.2

Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.

Minder

1979

Z-Cars poster
7.3

Z-Cars or Z Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.

Z-Cars

1962

The Bill poster
6.8

The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.

The Bill

1984

Hart to Hart poster
6.9

Wealthy couple Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a self-made millionaire and his journalist wife, moonlight as amateur detectives.

Hart to Hart

1979

The Professionals poster
7.6

The lives of Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their controller, George Cowley. The mandate of CI5 was to fight terrorism and similar high-profile crimes. Cowley, a hard ex-MI5 operative, hand-picked each of his men. Bodie is a cynical ex-SAS paratrooper and mercenary whose nature ran to controlled violence, while his partner, Doyle, comes to CI5 from the regular police force, and is more of an open minded liberal. Their relationship is often contentious, but they are the top men in their field, and the ones to whom Cowley always assigned to the toughest cases.

The Professionals

1977

Theatre 625 poster
7.2

Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line format, which only BBC2 used at the time.

Theatre 625

1964

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

No Hiding Place poster
4.8

No Hiding Place is a British television series that was produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV network between 16 September 1959 and 22 June 1967. It was the sequel to the series Murder Bag and Crime Sheet, all starring Raymond Francis as Detective Superintendent, later Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart.

No Hiding Place

1959

The Sweeney poster
8.1

Jack Regan, an unethical officer of the Flying Squad, uses unorthodox methods to pursue criminals with the help of his partner, George Carter.

The Sweeney

1975

Upstairs, Downstairs poster
7.8

Upstairs: the wealthy, aristocratic Bellamys. Downstairs: their loyal and lively servants. For nearly 30 years, they share a fashionable townhouse at 165 Eaton Place in London’s posh Belgravia neighborhood, surviving social change, political upheaval, scandals, and the horrors of the First World War.

Upstairs, Downstairs

1971

Celebrity Mastermind poster
6.0

Celebrity Mastermind is a British television quiz show broadcast by BBC television. The show is a spin-off of the long-running quiz show Mastermind, with the exception that all the contestants are celebrities. As with the main show, John Humphrys is the host and question-master. Magnus Magnusson was quizmaster on the 2003/04 episodes featuring Jonathan Meades as winner.

Celebrity Mastermind

2003

Angels poster
4.5

Angels is a BBC medical soap-opera which launched on 1st September 1975 and was the blue print for such medical soaps as Casualty, Holby City, plus daytime soap, Doctors. The medical soap focuses on different departments within Heath Green Hospital and was a highly successful continuing drama.

Angels

1975

New Scotland Yard poster
6.3

New Scotland Yard is a police drama series produced by London Weekend Television for ITV from 1972 and 1974. It features the activities of two officers from the Criminal Investigations Department in the Metropolitan Police force headquarters at New Scotland Yard, as they dealt with the assorted villains of the day.

New Scotland Yard

1972

Little Britain poster
7.1

A zany comedy show with Matt Lucas and David Walliams, featuring characters from all over Little Britain.

Little Britain

2003

Maigret poster
7.1

BBC series based on the novels by Georges Simenon which starred Rupert Davies as Inspector Maigret, a French police detective who preferred to watch and listen in order to solve crimes. The series ran from 1960-63 on British television.

Maigret

1960

Dempsey and Makepeace poster
6.8

Dempsey and Makepeace is a British television crime drama made by London Weekend Television for ITV, created and produced by Ranald Graham. The leading roles were played by Michael Brandon and Glynis Barber, who later married each other on 18 November 1989. The series combined elements of previous series such as the mis-matching of British and American crime-fighters from different classes as seen in The Persuaders! and the action of The Professionals.

Dempsey and Makepeace

1985

Softly, Softly poster
7.5

Softly, Softly is a British television drama series, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC 1 from January 1966. It centred around the work of regional crime squads, plain-clothes CID officers based in the fictional region of Wyvern, supposedly in the Bristol area of England.

Softly, Softly

1966

Dixon of Dock Green poster
6.0

Dixon of Dock Green was a BBC television series following the activities of police officers at a fictional Metropolitan Police station in the East End of London from 1955 to 1976. Some episodes were later remade as a BBC radio series in 2005 and 2006.

Dixon of Dock Green

1955

No artwork available
5.4

Eldorado was a British soap opera that ran for only one year, from 6 July 1992 to 9 July 1993. Set in the fictional town of Los Barcos on the Costa del Sol in Spain and based around the lives of British and European expats, the BBC hoped it would be as successful as EastEnders and replicate some of the sunshine and glamour of imported Australian soaps such as Home and Away and Neighbours. A co-production between the BBC and independent production company Cinema Verity, Eldorado aired three times a week in a high-profile evening slot on the mainstream channel BBC1, filling the slot vacated by Terry Wogan's chat show Wogan, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.00pm. In spite of a high-profile advertising campaign on television, radio and in the press preceding the launch, the programme was not initially a popular hit with viewers and critics. Ratings improved with a radical overhaul, but it was eventually cancelled by the new controller of BBC1, Alan Yentob.

Eldorado

1992

The Detectives poster
6.9

The absurd adventures of two defective detectives, who - despite unbelievable incompetence - somehow manage to solve their cases (or be nearby when the cases are solved) and retain their jobs.

The Detectives

1993

Shoestring poster
7.7

Shoestring is a BBC detective drana set in Bristol and starring Trevor Eve as private detective Eddie Shoestring, who operatee his own show on Radio West, the local radio station. The programme ran between 30 September 1979 and 21 December 1980, in two series with 21 hour-long episodes. Eve opted not to return after two series, as he wanted to diversify into theatre, so the production team changed the setting to Jersey and created Bergerac, also following a detective returning to work after a bad period in his life.

Shoestring

1979

Terry and June poster
6.5

Middle-aged Terry and June Medford are beginning to find the trials of life more difficult as they try to succeed in their daily lives. The couple have just moved to Purley, south-east London... Aunt Lucy and the mynah bird have disappeared, as had the occasionally visiting daughters. Terry and June now mixed with friendly next door neighbour Beattie; Terry's chatty work colleague, Malcolm; and their gruff boss Sir Dennis Hodge. Otherwise, things were much as before, with Terry's pigheaded childishness causing no end of problems, usually thwarting June's attempts at leading a cosy life.

Terry and June

1979

Terry and June poster
6.5

Middle-aged Terry and June Medford are beginning to find the trials of life more difficult as they try to succeed in their daily lives. The couple have just moved to Purley, south-east London... Aunt Lucy and the mynah bird have disappeared, as had the occasionally visiting daughters. Terry and June now mixed with friendly next door neighbour Beattie; Terry's chatty work colleague, Malcolm; and their gruff boss Sir Dennis Hodge. Otherwise, things were much as before, with Terry's pigheaded childishness causing no end of problems, usually thwarting June's attempts at leading a cosy life.

Terry and June

1979

The Duchess of Duke Street poster
8.0

In Victorian London, Louisa Leyton works her way up from servant to renowned cook to proprietress of the upper-class Bentinck Hotel in Duke Street, St James's.

The Duchess of Duke Street

1976

The Duchess of Duke Street poster
8.0

In Victorian London, Louisa Leyton works her way up from servant to renowned cook to proprietress of the upper-class Bentinck Hotel in Duke Street, St James's.

The Duchess of Duke Street

1976

Survivors poster
7.9

Survivors is a British post-apocalyptic fiction television series devised by Terry Nation and produced by Terence Dudley at the BBC from 1975 to 1977. It concerns the plight of a group of people who have survived an accidentally released plague – referred to as "The Death" – that kills nearly the entire human population of the planet.

Survivors

1975

Target poster
7.0

A crime drama set in Southampton following a team of detectives and the cases they solve.

Target

1977

Target poster
7.0

A crime drama set in Southampton following a team of detectives and the cases they solve.

Target

1977

Paul Temple poster
7.2

Paul Temple is a British-German television series . It features Francis Matthews as Paul Temple, the fictional detective created by Francis Durbridge, who solves crimes with the assistance of his wife Steve. Paul Temple used overseas locations in France, Malta, Germany and elsewhere.

Paul Temple

1969

The Gentle Touch poster
7.2

Notable as the first British series to feature a female police officer (predating Juliet Bravo by four months), Detective Inspector Maggie Forbes raises her teenage son while navigating a male-dominated police force following the murder of her police commissioner husband.

The Gentle Touch

1980

Storyboard poster
8.0

Highly regarded anthology from the 1980s presenting a diverse range of high-quality single dramas that would serve as pilots for possible future series.

Storyboard

1983

Celebrity Coach Trip poster
7.0

Celebrity Coach Trip 1 was the first series of Celebrity Coach Trip which was filmed from 6 to 17 September 2010 as is made clear from the reference from the Channel 4 website and began showing on 8 November 2010. This series eventually changed the voting rules from Day 5 to Day 9 where from that day there would be no more yellow cards on the trip until future series, and the couple that received the most amount of votes would be sent home immediately since arrival into Hungary in history and there being, only at a maximum, six couples, instead of the usual seven. The series involved six celebrity couples travelling on a two-week tour. Tour guide Brendan Sheerin, narrator Dave Vitty, coach driver Paul Donald and the MT09 MTT registration all returned for this series, which aired on Channel 4.

Celebrity Coach Trip

2010

Six Fifty-Five Special poster
NR

Sally James and guest presenters invite established stars and newcomers to contribute to a lively half-hour of music and conversation.

Six Fifty-Five Special

1981

Big Deal poster
7.2

The ups and downs of small time London gambler Robby Box, and the effect that his poker addiction has on his long suffering girlfriend Jan Oliver and family.

Big Deal

1984