Acting

Sam Dastor

Born — Died

1941-10-02 — 2026-06-05

Place of birth

Bombay, India

Known for

Acting

Credits

36 titles

Known for

Spooks poster
7.7

Tense drama series about the different challenges faced by the British Security Service as they work against the clock to safeguard the nation. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid.

Spooks

2002

A Touch of Frost poster
7.6

Jack Frost is a gritty, dogged and unconventional detective with sympathy for the underdog and an instinct for moral justice who attracts trouble like a magnet. Despite some animosity with his superintendent, Norman “Horn-rimmed Harry” Mullett, Frost and his ever-changing roster of assistants manage to solve cases via his clever mind, good heart, and cool touch.

A Touch of Frost

1992

ITV Playhouse poster
7.0

ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.

ITV Playhouse

1967

Space: 1999 poster
7.1

The crew of Moonbase Alpha must struggle to survive when a massive explosion throws the Moon from orbit into deep space.

Space: 1999

1975

Blake's 7 poster
7.3

A group of convicts and outcasts fight a guerrilla war against the totalitarian Terran Federation from a highly advanced alien spaceship.

Blake's 7

1978

Van der Valk poster
6.2

Van der Valk is a British television series that was produced by Thames Television for the ITV network. It starred Barry Foster in the title role as Dutch detective Commissaris "Piet" van der Valk. Based on the characters and atmosphere of the novels of Nicolas Freeling, the first series was shown in 1972.

Van der Valk

1972

Film credits

2000s · 3 titles

1990s · 5 titles

Bad Girl poster
10.0

A young single mother has to convince the authorities that she is a fit parent.

Bad Girl

1992

Such a Long Journey poster
6.0

The story, set in 1971 at the time of the war between India and Pakistan, is based on the novel of the same name by Rohinton Mistry, an Indian now living in Toronto. "Such a Long Journey" takes place mostly in and around a large apartment complex, its courtyard and the street, which the municipal authorities want to widen so that even more choking diesel fumes can cloud the air. We meet the hero, Gustad (Roshan Seth), in the process of defending the old concrete wall that protects his courtyard from the street, and later he strikes a bargain with an itinerant artist (Ranjit Chowdhry), who covers the wall with paintings from every conceivable religious tradition, with the thought that all of the groups represented will join in defending the wall.

Such a Long Journey

1998

Jinnah poster
6.9

Biography of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of modern Pakistan is told through flashbacks as his soul tries to find eternal rest. The flashbacks start in 1947 as Jinnah pleads for a separate nation for the Muslim minority, infuriating Lord Mountbatten. Mountbatten then tries to enlist Gandhi & Nehru to persuade Jinnah to stop his efforts. Gandhi sides with Jinnah, which upsets Nehru. However, Jinnah turns down the offer to become prime minister and the film takes another slide back to 1916, which reveals all of the political implications that have occurred.

Jinnah

1998

The Heart Surgeon poster
6.0

Cardiac surgeon Alex Marsden has an affair with Marcella Duggan, but then finds himself having to operate on her husband Larry, who is also his friend.

The Heart Surgeon

1997

Dare To Dream: The Making of Jinnah poster
7.0

A documentary on the making of the film Jinnah (1998), and the trials and tribulations faced by a British production team.

Dare To Dream: The Making of Jinnah

1998

1980s · 5 titles

1970s · 4 titles

Series credits

Spooks poster
7.7

Tense drama series about the different challenges faced by the British Security Service as they work against the clock to safeguard the nation. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid.

Spooks

2002

A Touch of Frost poster
7.6

Jack Frost is a gritty, dogged and unconventional detective with sympathy for the underdog and an instinct for moral justice who attracts trouble like a magnet. Despite some animosity with his superintendent, Norman “Horn-rimmed Harry” Mullett, Frost and his ever-changing roster of assistants manage to solve cases via his clever mind, good heart, and cool touch.

A Touch of Frost

1992

ITV Playhouse poster
7.0

ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.

ITV Playhouse

1967

ITV Playhouse poster
7.0

ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.

ITV Playhouse

1967

Space: 1999 poster
7.1

The crew of Moonbase Alpha must struggle to survive when a massive explosion throws the Moon from orbit into deep space.

Space: 1999

1975

Blake's 7 poster
7.3

A group of convicts and outcasts fight a guerrilla war against the totalitarian Terran Federation from a highly advanced alien spaceship.

Blake's 7

1978

Van der Valk poster
6.2

Van der Valk is a British television series that was produced by Thames Television for the ITV network. It starred Barry Foster in the title role as Dutch detective Commissaris "Piet" van der Valk. Based on the characters and atmosphere of the novels of Nicolas Freeling, the first series was shown in 1972.

Van der Valk

1972

I, Claudius poster
7.8

Acclaimed blackly comic historical drama series. Set amidst a web of power, corruption and lies, it chronicles the reigns of the Roman emperors - Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and finally Claudius.

I, Claudius

1976

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

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

The Edwardians poster
6.2

The Edwardians is an eight-part miniseries broadcast in 1972–73. An anthology, each 90-minute episode explores influential figure(s) of the Edwardian era: Charles Rolls and Henry Royce; Horatio Bottomley; E. Nesbit; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Robert Baden-Powell; Marie Lloyd; Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick; and David Lloyd George.

The Edwardians

1972

Hazell poster
5.2

Hazell is a British television drama based on the novel series by Terry Venables and Gordon Williams (collectively known as P.B. Yuill), and starring Nicholas Bell as James Hazell, a 'smart parody' of Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade. The program ran for 2 series, from January 1978 to July 1979.

Hazell

1978

Fortunes of War poster
6.3

English literature lecturer Guy Pringle and his wife Harriet navigate the early years of WWII in Bucharest. They become involved in anti-fascist politics and are forced to flee as the war escalates, crossing paths with various characters along the way.

Fortunes of War

1987

Yes, Prime Minister poster
5.7

Yes, Prime Minister is a 2013 British political satire sitcom created and written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. A revival of the sitcoms Yes, Minister (1980–84), and Yes, Prime Minister (1986–88), the new programme stars David Haig, Henry Goodman, Chris Larkin, and Zoe Telford. In 2013 Chequers in 2013, Prime Minister Jim Hacker now leads a coalition government. Hacker must use all his wits to deal with economic downturn, his coalition partners having a leadership crisis, and the growing tensions involving Scottish independence.

Yes, Prime Minister

2013

The Alchemists poster
8.0

A Nobel-winning geneticist and his daughter begin working for a huge pharmaceutical company along with a slick American lawyer who appears to know more about the organisation's dodgy dealings than he lets on.

The Alchemists

1999

Merlin of the Crystal Cave poster
7.0

A BBC Sunday afternoon drama serial aimed at family audiences, telling the Arthurian tale from the point of view of Merlin, from his youth to old age.

Merlin of the Crystal Cave

1991

The Heart Surgeon poster
4.3

Alex Marsden is a handsome and celebrated cardiac surgeon with a champagne lifestyle. His two closest friends are Marcella and her husband Larry. Marcella and Alex are in the middle of an affair when Larry develops a heart problem. A heart bypass operation will save him and Larry wants Alex to perform it.

The Heart Surgeon

1997

No artwork available
NR

A young mechanic gets a job at a private airfield and finds himself in danger when he starts to discover the true nature of the airfield's operations.

Fly Into Danger

1972