John Irvin

Directing

John Irvin

Born — Died

1940-05-07 — 2026-08-11

Place of birth

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, UK

Known for

Directing

Credits

41 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Irvin (7 May 1940 — 11 August 2026) was a British film director. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, he began his career by directing a number of documentaries and television works, including the BBC adaptation of John le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. He also made several action films in the 1980s including The Dogs of War (1980), Raw Deal (1986), Hamburger Hill (1987) and Next of Kin (1989). In the 1990s and 2000s, Irvin directed films such as Robin Hood (1991), When Trumpets Fade (1998), Shiner (2000) and The Moon and the Stars (2007). Description above from the Wikipedia article John Irvin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on…

Known for

No artwork available
5.1

The BBC's flagship cinema review TV program featuring reviews of new releases, news items and interviews. The title of the program changes each year to incorporate the year of broadcast.

Film '72

1971

When Trumpets Fade poster
6.6

In WWII Western Germany, Private David Manning reluctantly leaves behind a mortally wounded fellow soldier and searches for survivors from his platoon, only to learn from commanding officer Captain Pritchett that they have all been killed in action. Despite requesting a discharge on the grounds of mental disability, Manning is promoted to sergeant and assigned to lead a new platoon of young inductees.

When Trumpets Fade

1998

Raw Deal poster
5.9

Mark Kaminsky is kicked out of the FBI for his rough treatment of a suspect. He winds up as the sheriff of a small town in North Carolina. FBI Chief Harry Shannon, whose son has been killed by a mobster named Patrovina, enlists Kaminsky in a personal vendetta with a promise of reinstatement into the FBI if Patrovina is taken down. To accomplish this, he must go undercover and join Patrovina's gang.

Raw Deal

1986

Hamburger Hill poster
6.6

The men of Bravo Company are facing a battle that's all uphill… up Hamburger Hill. Fourteen war-weary soldiers are battling for a mud-covered mound of earth so named because it chews up soldiers like chopped meat. They are fighting for their country, their fellow soldiers and their lives. War is hell, but this is worse. Hamburger Hill tells it the way it was, the way it really was. It's a raw, gritty and totally unrelenting dramatic depiction of one of the fiercest battles of America's bloodiest war. This happened. Hamburger Hill - war at its worst, men at their best.

Hamburger Hill

1987

The Dogs of War poster
5.8

Mercenary soldiers Jamie and Drew are hired by a large corporation to liberate Zangaro, a small African nation, from an despot. Havoc ensues.

The Dogs of War

1980

Next of Kin poster
5.9

Truman Gates, a Chicago cop, sets out to find his brother's killer. Meanwhile, another of his brothers, Briar (a hillbilly) decides to find the killer himself.

Next of Kin

1989

Film credits

Series credits

Behind the camera

When Trumpets Fade poster
6.6

In WWII Western Germany, Private David Manning reluctantly leaves behind a mortally wounded fellow soldier and searches for survivors from his platoon, only to learn from commanding officer Captain Pritchett that they have all been killed in action. Despite requesting a discharge on the grounds of mental disability, Manning is promoted to sergeant and assigned to lead a new platoon of young inductees.

When Trumpets Fade

1998

Raw Deal poster
5.9

Mark Kaminsky is kicked out of the FBI for his rough treatment of a suspect. He winds up as the sheriff of a small town in North Carolina. FBI Chief Harry Shannon, whose son has been killed by a mobster named Patrovina, enlists Kaminsky in a personal vendetta with a promise of reinstatement into the FBI if Patrovina is taken down. To accomplish this, he must go undercover and join Patrovina's gang.

Raw Deal

1986

Hamburger Hill poster
6.6

The men of Bravo Company are facing a battle that's all uphill… up Hamburger Hill. Fourteen war-weary soldiers are battling for a mud-covered mound of earth so named because it chews up soldiers like chopped meat. They are fighting for their country, their fellow soldiers and their lives. War is hell, but this is worse. Hamburger Hill tells it the way it was, the way it really was. It's a raw, gritty and totally unrelenting dramatic depiction of one of the fiercest battles of America's bloodiest war. This happened. Hamburger Hill - war at its worst, men at their best.

Hamburger Hill

1987

The Dogs of War poster
5.8

Mercenary soldiers Jamie and Drew are hired by a large corporation to liberate Zangaro, a small African nation, from an despot. Havoc ensues.

The Dogs of War

1980

Next of Kin poster
5.9

Truman Gates, a Chicago cop, sets out to find his brother's killer. Meanwhile, another of his brothers, Briar (a hillbilly) decides to find the killer himself.

Next of Kin

1989

Ghost Story poster
6.0

Four successful elderly gentlemen, members of the Chowder Society, share a gruesome, 50-year-old secret. When one of Edward Wanderley's twin sons dies in a bizarre accident, the group begins to see a pattern of frightening events developing.

Ghost Story

1981

Dot.Kill poster
4.3

Charlie Daines is a morphine-addicted detective on the trail of a psychopath who is setting up murders and broadcasting them live on the internet. As he closes in on the killer, Charlie realises that he is to be the final victim.

Dot.Kill

2005

The Fourth Angel poster
5.3

Workaholic reporter, Jack Elgin takes his family on a working trip to India, but their aircraft is hijacked in Cyprus by a previously-unknown terrorist movement, and his wife and daughter are among the slaughtered. With western governments suppressing key facts and unwilling to go after the terrorists, Jack uses his contacts and snooping skill to seek the truth himself.

The Fourth Angel

2001

Robin Hood poster
5.7

The Swashbuckling legend of Robin Hood unfolds in the 12th century when the mighty Normans ruled England with an iron fist.

Robin Hood

1991

City of Industry poster
5.5

A retired thief swears revenge on the lunatic who murdered his brother and partner, while going on the run with the loot they stole.

City of Industry

1997

Widows' Peak poster
6.4

Scandal and mystery reign following the arrival of Edwina in a small Irish town populated entirely by widows. Edwina quickly falls out with the locals while also falling in with the son of the community's leader

Widows' Peak

1994

Crazy Horse poster
8.7

The legendary Native American chieftain refuses to go with his people peacefully to the reservation and starts a rebellion.

Crazy Horse

1996

A Month by the Lake poster
5.7

For 16 years Miss Bentley has been spending April at an elegant hillside villa on Lake Como. This year, 1937, her London society artist father has recently died and the only other English-speaking guests are brash Americans. Then Major Wilshaw arrives. He suggests they meet for cocktails and Miss Bentley stands him up -- not even thinking about it -- as she helps the new nanny of an Italian family settle in. Miss Beaumont, a tall, young American who has dropped out of finishing school in Switzerland, is bored and finds some amusement in flirting with the major, whose libido is awakened for the first time since before the great war. And Miss Bentley now finds more about the major to admire than his ears.

A Month by the Lake

1995

Shiner poster
5.4

The past catches up with a ruthlessly ambitious boxing promoter.

Shiner

2000

The Moon and the Stars poster
5.1

1939: Rome stands on the brink of World War II. In the midst of this political and social tension famed producer Davide Rieta is making a major film. The two lead actors, the German woman Kristina Baumgarten and the English man James Clavel ace each others' initial antagonism and eventually fall in love. Meanwhile the fascist police are looking for an excuse to arrest the Jewish filmmaker and any other potential "troublemakers." The producer and his crew decide to make one final extraordinary effort to complete the film - against all odds.

The Moon and the Stars

2007

Eminent Domain poster
6.0

A high-ranking Polish politburo member is banished from the party, and must find out why. Set in 1979 Poland before the Solidarity events.

Eminent Domain

1991

Champions poster
6.6

The true story of jockey Bob Champion who overcame cancer to win the 1981 Grand National

Champions

1984

Turtle Diary poster
6.3

Two separate people, a man and a woman, find something very stirring about the sea turtles in their tank at the London Zoo. They meet and form an odd, but sympathetic camaraderie as they plan to steal two of the turtles and free them into the ocean.

Turtle Diary

1985

The Boys & Girl from County Clare poster
6.0

In Ireland in the mid 1960s, two feuding brothers and their respective Ceilidh bands compete at a music festival.

The Boys & Girl from County Clare

2003

Garden of Eden poster
4.7

A young American writer completes his service in WWI and travels across Europe with his wife and her attractive Italian girlfriend. Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway.

Garden of Eden

2008

Freefall poster
3.9

New York publisher Dex Dellum sends his fiancée and star photographer Katy Mazur to Swaziland to shoot the taita falcon. There she meets 'highman' (altitude stuntman) Grant Orion, who practices skydiving. After an initial clash, they become hot lovers, her first infidelity. She's drugged before he leaves unannounced. In London Grant saves her from armed killers and discloses to be an Interpol agent. Dex has an incompatible story but is killed. It's the start of a cascade of violence and charades.

Freefall

1994

The Fine Art of Love: Mine Ha-Ha poster
5.8

A group of young girls are brought up in a college within dark forests and gloomy lakes. Young Hidalla and her friends Irene, Vera, Blanka, Melusine and Rain are brought up in an isolated world: the girls don't know anything about live outside the college's high walls. At the age of 16, some of them start asking questions about their origins, their parents and the true purposes of the Headmistresses strict rules. When two of them disappear mysteriously, the initial fairytale atmosphere grows more and more eerie...

The Fine Art of Love: Mine Ha-Ha

2005

Medieval England: The Peasants' Revolt poster
NR

Dramatically portraying the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, the film reveals the conditions of virtual slavery which persisted throughout the Middle Ages, and the weaknesses of the feudal system; its oppressive tax structure, its cruelty and its social inequality

Medieval England: The Peasants' Revolt

1969

Medieval England: The Peasants' Revolt poster
NR

Dramatically portraying the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, the film reveals the conditions of virtual slavery which persisted throughout the Middle Ages, and the weaknesses of the feudal system; its oppressive tax structure, its cruelty and its social inequality

Medieval England: The Peasants' Revolt

1969

No artwork available
NR

A BAFTA award nominated documentary about Danilo Dolci's 1967 march across Sicily as an expression of his fight against poverty, corruption and violence, together with transcripts of an interview with Dolci.

Mafia No!

1967

Down at the Hydro poster
NR

Diedre and The Colonel separately attend a health spa and find themselves falling in love.

Down at the Hydro

1983

Bedtime poster
9.0

The film begins at the end of one act of love-making and ends at the beginning of the next and is a dialogue between two people who are neither in love nor married to each other.

Bedtime

1967

Haunted: The Ferryman poster
7.2

A horror novelist and his wife go to a house in the country for a short vacation. However, they soon find that one of his novels is coming true when they are haunted by the ghost of a drowned ferryman.

Haunted: The Ferryman

1974

You Are My Heart's Delight poster
NR

Two contrasting stories: one couple dream of leaving the city; another have left the countryside.

You Are My Heart's Delight

1978

Gala Day poster
6.5

A description of the various activities of Gala Day held annually at Durham when the miners and their families come to town.

Gala Day

1963

Gala Day poster
6.5

A description of the various activities of Gala Day held annually at Durham when the miners and their families come to town.

Gala Day

1963

Carousella poster
2.7

25min short documentary about Soho strippers which was banned on its first release by the British Board of Censors as head scissor man at the time John Trevelyan believed it was far too positive in its portrayal of the exotic dancers and feared it would serve as a recruitment film for the stripping scene

Carousella

1966

Mandela's Gun poster
NR

Set in 1962 MANDELA’S GUN is a political thriller, based on Mandelas African Odyssey. As Commander-in-Chief of the Liberation Army Umkhonto we Sizwe (the MK) he undergoes military training in Algeria and Ethiopia while surviving assassination attempts and betrayal. In South Africa he is finally arrested with the connivance of the CIA In the crucible of the surging African Liberation Movements of the early 60s not only does he study the art of war but also leadership and political survival. MANDELA’S GUN is a thrilling biopic, supported by eyewitness accounts from Mandelas advisors and comrades.

Mandela's Gun

2016

No artwork available
NR

Graham, an executive, is ordered by his boss to look after a couple of out-of-town buyers - who make it clear they would like to visit a brothel.

The Proofing Session

1977

The Nearly Man poster
NR

A middle class man finds life as a Labour MP challenging.

The Nearly Man

1974

No artwork available
4.0

Michael Frayn play part of TV series ITV Sunday Night Drama.

Alphabetical Order

1978

No artwork available
NR

Four young people pinpoint the attitudes that have contributed to the phenomenon of swinging London.

Go Go Go Said the Bird

1966

Tomorrow Night in London poster
6.0

Sporadically edited footage of London's streets and night life.

Tomorrow Night in London

1969