Michael Jayston

Acting

Michael Jayston

Born — Died

1935-10-29 — 2024-02-05

Place of birth

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

85 titles

Michael James (born 29 October 1935), known professionally as Michael Jayston, was an English actor. He played Nicholas II of Russia in the film Nicholas and Alexandra (1971). He has also made many television appearances, which have included playing the Valeyard in all fourteen episodes of the Doctor Who serial The Trial of a Time Lord (1986) and appearing in the Only Fools and Horses episode "Time on Our Hands" (1996) as Raquel's father, James.

Known for

Coronation Street poster
5.3

The residents of Coronation Street are ordinary, working-class people, and the show follows them through regular social and family interactions at home, in the workplace, and in their local pub, the Rovers Return Inn. Britain's longest-running soap.

Coronation Street

1960

Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.

Midsomer Murders

1997

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

Holby City poster
5.8

Drama series about life on the wards of Holby City Hospital, following the highs and lows of the staff and patients.

Holby City

1999

Casualty poster
6.2

Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.

Casualty

1986

Crown Court poster
5.7

Crown Court is an afternoon television courtroom drama produced by Granada Television for the ITV network that ran from 1972, when the Crown Court system replaced Assize courts and Quarter sessions in the legal system of England and Wales, to 1984.

Crown Court

1972

Film credits

2010s · 3 titles

2000s · 3 titles

1980s · 9 titles

Doctor Who: The Ultimate Foe poster
5.7

Charged with genocide by the treacherous Valeyard at his trial, the Doctor receives help from an unlikely source to turn the tide of the High Council's rulings in his favour and reveal the Valeyard as a wrongdoer: the Master. For the Valeyard's own crimes are so atrocious, even the Doctor's archenemy will help him to ensure that the villain won't see the light of day again. Cornered, the Valeyard flees to the Matrix, where he can be the Doctor's judge, jury and executioner...

Doctor Who: The Ultimate Foe

1986

Doctor Who: Terror of the Vervoids poster
4.7

As evidence for the defense at his ongoing trial, the Doctor presents an adventure from his future when he is travelling with a computer programmer named Mel. Answering a mysterious distress call from the space liner Hyperion III, they find that the passengers aboard include unscrupulous scientists, secret agents, saboteurs, thieves and a murderer. And lurking in the shadows are the Vervoids, the product of sinister botanical experiments, who will stop at nothing to destroy all non-plant life.

Doctor Who: Terror of the Vervoids

1986

Dominique poster
4.9

The wife of a greedy man comes back to haunt him after he scares her to death.

Dominique

1980

Doctor Who: Mindwarp poster
7.7

As the Doctor's trial continues, evidence is presented showing his most recent adventure, one where he faces an old adversary, Sil. As a scientist conducts his unethical experiments to prolong the life of Sil's boss Kiv, the Doctor's memories of the events begins to return and an unpleasant surprise awaits him.

Doctor Who: Mindwarp

1986

From a Far Country poster
4.6

This heroic story follows the life of Karol Wojtyla, a Polish Roman catholic who ascends the throne of St. Peter as Pope John Paul II. As a young boy, Karol is a bright and talented student. Archbishop Sapieha recognizes the very special, moving qualities Karol possesses and encourages him to consider the priesthood. Although determined to study Polish literature, Karol turns to the church; he is ordained and studies in Italy, France, and Belgium. Torn by fear and repression in post-Stalin Eastern Europe, Karol becomes a poisonous thorn in the communists' side. His deer reverence and commitment return him to Poland as Pope John Paul II.

From a Far Country

1981

Doctor Who: The Mysterious Planet poster
6.2

The Doctor is summoned before the High Council of Time Lords to stand trial for the charges of harmful interference to the course of events during his travels which have threatened the sanctity of the universe. Indignant at these accusations, the Doctor pleads his case to the Inquisitor with the hope that she will see him as a source of hope and goodwill for existence. However, his prosecuting attorney, a sinister Time Lord known simply as the Valeyard, begins a crusade against the Doctor with the motive of framing him as a villainous renegade.

Doctor Who: The Mysterious Planet

1986

No artwork available
NR

Teenagers Sarah and Debbie run away from home and find themselves on the streets of London.

Somewhere to Run

1989

No artwork available
8.2

Jack Warden is back as quirky detective Harry Fox, who becomes a suspect in a murder case while on holiday in England.

Still Crazy Like a Fox

1987

The Man Who Left His Soul on Film poster
NR

Documentary about Nagisa Oshima. It includes interviews with Oshima, Donald Richie, Roger Pulvers and Paul Mayersberg

The Man Who Left His Soul on Film

1983

1970s · 23 titles

Zulu Dawn poster
6.1

In 1879, the British suffer a great loss at the Battle of Isandlwana due to incompetent leadership.

Zulu Dawn

1979

Cromwell poster
6.6

Disgusted with the policies of King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell plans to take his family to the New World. But on the eve of their departure, Cromwell is drawn into the tangled web of religion and politics that will result in the English Civil War.

Cromwell

1970

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland poster
6.3

An all-star cast highlights this vibrant musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll's immortal tale. One day, plucky young Alice follows a white rabbit down a hole and discovers a world of bizarre characters.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

1972

Nicholas and Alexandra poster
7.0

Tsar Nicholas II, the inept last monarch of Russia, insensitive to the needs of his people, is overthrown and exiled to Siberia with his family.

Nicholas and Alexandra

1971

Tales That Witness Madness poster
5.5

Enigmatic asylum owner Dr Tremayne houses four very special cases. Visited by his colleague Nicholas, Tremayne explains his amazing and controversial theories as to why each patient went mad, be they a ritualistic 'luau', a time-travelling bicycle, a toy tiger, and a tree stump.

Tales That Witness Madness

1973

Follow Me! poster
7.8

A strait-laced British banker hires an eccentric private detective to follow his free-spirited American wife, whom he suspects is cheating on him.

Follow Me!

1972

The Internecine Project poster
5.9

Offered a job as a presidential adviser, a professor is forced to dispose of those who knew him when he was a spy.

The Internecine Project

1974

Craze poster
5.1

A demented art dealer and antique shop owner performs nightly rituals in honour of the African god Chuku, whom he believes will reward him with unimaginable wealth and power if he merely offers human sacrifice.

Craze

1974

The Merchant of Venice poster
8.5

An Edwardian take on the Shakespeare play starring Laurence Olivier.

The Merchant of Venice

1973

Macbeth poster
6.0

Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.

Macbeth

1970

Bequest to the Nation poster
6.5

Set before the Battle of Trafalgar, this is the story of relationship between Admiral Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton during the Napoleonic Wars.

Bequest to the Nation

1973

The Homecoming poster
6.0

In a dreary North London flat, the site of perpetual psychological warfare, a philosophy professor visits his family after a nine-year absence and introduces the four men - father, uncle and two brothers - to his wife.

The Homecoming

1973

Gossip from the Forest poster
7.0

The events around the signing of The Armistice at the end of the First World War.

Gossip from the Forest

1979

Ring Once for Death poster
9.0

Recently widowed Laura Vallance returns home to England after many years living abroad. She knows few people in England, but she desires rest and seclusion in her time of grief. However, she is more alone than she bargained for when she hires Roger Masters as her butler. With small doses of poison, the ruthless butler plans to keeps his wealthy employer incapacitated... permanently.

Ring Once for Death

1973

A Coffin for the Bride poster
8.0

Mark Walker is in the lucrative business of marrying wealthy older women and murdering them after the honeymoon. That all changes when he falls for cool blonde Stella McKenzie. He considers giving up his life of crime and finally marrying for love. The only obstacles in his way are a lawyer who suspects the truth, and temptation in the form of the perfect target for one more kill...

A Coffin for the Bride

1974

She Fell Among Thieves poster
5.3

While on a Pyrenees vacation in 1922, upright English gentleman Richard Chandos (Malcolm McDowell, A Clockwork Orange, Heroes) encounters the villainous Vanity Fair (Eileen Atkins, Cold Mountain). Mistress of the turreted Chateau Jezreel and leader of a motley band of criminals, she will inherit millions if she can force her stepdaughter to marry. Pitting his wits against this formidable adversary, Chandos determines to rescue the beautiful young woman. But Vanity Fair keeps one step ahead of him, a trick forever up her sleeve and murder in her heart.

She Fell Among Thieves

1978

The Hero of My Life poster
NR

The rise of Charles Dickens, from poverty to prosperity, traced and reflected in his writings.

The Hero of My Life

1970

Mad Jack poster
9.0

Play dealing with the life of British Army lieutenant Siegfried Sassoon, and his protests against the inhumanity of the First World War

Mad Jack

1970

King Lear poster
10.0

King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.

King Lear

1975

Competition poster
NR

An out of work man must take his son to a school poetry competition while accompanied by his friendly neighbours, of which, he's not too secretly been having an affair with the wife.

Competition

1971

No artwork available
NR

Two university students, one a physiologist, the other an economist, have been sharing an apartment, but now one of them is about to depart for work abroad. They also share an enthusiasm for game-playing, and the most active communication between them is expressed through hilarious fantasy-like skits, replete with outlandish accents and parodied characterizations. The departing roommate also has a sometime mistress, a boozy older woman named Julia, whom he would like to bequeath to his friend.

Green Julia

1971

No artwork available
10.0

Adaptation of the play by Oscar Wilde.

The Importance of Being Earnest

1974

No artwork available
NR

Gantry lives with his adult daughter, Emily. He is working on a book and she is his assistant. His son, James, comes to visit. Gantry pours the sherry, then conversations start flowing, but Gantry has some unexpected news delivered to him.

The Last Romantic

1978

Series credits

Coronation Street poster
5.3

The residents of Coronation Street are ordinary, working-class people, and the show follows them through regular social and family interactions at home, in the workplace, and in their local pub, the Rovers Return Inn. Britain's longest-running soap.

Coronation Street

1960

Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.

Midsomer Murders

1997

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

Holby City poster
5.8

Drama series about life on the wards of Holby City Hospital, following the highs and lows of the staff and patients.

Holby City

1999

Casualty poster
6.2

Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.

Casualty

1986

Casualty poster
6.2

Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.

Casualty

1986

Crown Court poster
5.7

Crown Court is an afternoon television courtroom drama produced by Granada Television for the ITV network that ran from 1972, when the Crown Court system replaced Assize courts and Quarter sessions in the legal system of England and Wales, to 1984.

Crown Court

1972

BBC Play of the Month poster
5.2

A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.

BBC Play of the Month

1965

BBC Play of the Month poster
5.2

A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.

BBC Play of the Month

1965

Heartbeat poster
7.1

Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.

Heartbeat

1992

Heartbeat poster
7.1

Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.

Heartbeat

1992

The Wednesday Play poster
5.2

An anthology series of television plays which aired on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured.

The Wednesday Play

1964

Sherlock Holmes poster
8.2

Sherlock Holmes uses his abilities to take on cases by private clients and those that the Scotland Yard are unable to solve, along with his friend Dr. Watson.

Sherlock Holmes

1984

Tales of the Unexpected poster
6.8

A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars.

Tales of the Unexpected

1979

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

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

Foyle's War poster
7.9

As WW2 rages around the world, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front as he investigates crimes on the south coast of England. Foyle's War opens in southern England in the year 1940. Later series sees the retired detective working as an MI5 agent operating in the aftermath of the war.

Foyle's War

2002

ITV Saturday Night Theatre poster
7.0

Anthology series of dramatic works.

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

1969

UFO poster
7.7

A secret, high-technology international agency called SHADO defends Earth from alien invaders.

UFO

1970

The Ruth Rendell Mysteries poster
6.6

The Ruth Rendell mysteries is a British television series made by TVS and Meridian Television for ITV between 2 August 1987 and 11 October 2000.

The Ruth Rendell Mysteries

1987

BBC2 Play of the Week poster
7.0

An anthology of plays and novels adapted into feature length TV movies, broadcast on BBC2 from September 1977 to April 1979.

BBC2 Play of the Week

1977

Thriller poster
7.0

Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. It is an anthology series: each episode has a self-contained story and its own cast. As the title suggests, each story is a thriller of some variety, from tales of the supernatural to down-to-earth whodunits.

Thriller

1973

Thriller poster
7.0

Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. It is an anthology series: each episode has a self-contained story and its own cast. As the title suggests, each story is a thriller of some variety, from tales of the supernatural to down-to-earth whodunits.

Thriller

1973

Remembers… poster
7.5

What are the secrets of our favourite TV shows? Famous names from both sides of the camera reflect on making some of the most popular and influential programs of all time.

Remembers…

2022

Doctor Who: Behind the Sofa poster
NR

Behind the Sofa was a series of videos included in each release of The Collection Blu-ray sets featuring cast and crew members from the show watching serials from the correspondent season.

Doctor Who: Behind the Sofa

2018

Press Gang poster
7.5

The activities of the staff at The Junior Gazette, a children's weekly newspaper produced by a group of school pupils.

Press Gang

1989

Callan poster
7.0

Callan is the title of a British television series set in the murky world of espionage. Originally produced by ABC Weekend Television and later Thames Television, it was aired on the ITV network over four seasons spread out between 1967 and 1972. The series starred Edward Woodward as David Callan, a reluctant professional killer for a shadowy branch of the British Government's intelligence services known as 'the Section'.

Callan

1967

The Darling Buds of May poster
7.9

An idyllic picture of 1950's rural England as seen through the lives of the Larkins, a farm family living in Kent. The show revolves around Pa Larkin, a man of a kind and mischievous nature with a penchant for getting into scrapes and talking his way out of them with equal equanimity; and his daughters, as they deal with growing up and discovering the joys and sorrows of young love.

The Darling Buds of May

1991

Churchill's People poster
5.0

Churchill's People is a British anthology series based on A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Winston Churchill's four-volume history of Britain and its former colonies. 26 episodes were produced by the BBC and initially broadcast from 30 December 1974 to 23 June 1975.

Churchill's People

1974

Outside Edge poster
7.6

Outside Edge is a British sitcom created and written by Richard Harris, based on his eponymous 1979 stage play. Two couples with contrasting attitudes – the uptight and conservative Roger and Miriam Dervish, and the bohemian and adventurous Kevin and Maggie Costello – attend the local Brent Park Cricket Club who meet every Saturday. Other members include lecherous womaniser Dennis Broadley, timid and naive Nigel, snobbish solicitor Alex Harrington, and browbeaten husband and later father Bob Willis, along with a number of others who regularly appear throughout.

Outside Edge

1994

Lady Killers poster
7.5

Compelling crime anthology looks at some of Britain's most notorious murder trials, in which both male and female defendants stood accused of the murder of women. Presented by Robert Morley, seven hour-long dramas reconstruct sensational trials which shocked Britain, offering in-depth analyses of individuals' motives and methods.

Lady Killers

1980

Detective poster
9.0

A BBC anthology series featuring adaptations of detective stories over 45 episodes in three seasons that ran from 1964 to 1969. As with many BBC programmes made before the early 1970s, many of its episodes no longer exist. Of the eighteen episodes from the first season only twelve are currently known to exist; likewise six of the sixteen editions from the second run are considered lost, and just one of the final ten survives in the archives.

Detective

1964

Murder in Suburbia poster
7.5

Murder in Suburbia was a British detective drama that ran for two series in 2004 and 2005. Detective Inspector Kate Ashurst, a graduate of a posh girls' academy, has a sharp, analytical mind; her working-class partner, Detective Sergeant Emma Scribbins, relies on her instincts. Together this sassy, sexy investigative team uncovers the dark urges behind suburban Middleford's placid façade.

Murder in Suburbia

2004

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy poster
7.6

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a seven-part BBC2 spy drama written by Arthur Hopcraft, adapted from John le Carré's eponymous 1974 novel. The serial, which stars Alec Guinness, Alexander Knox, Ian Richardson, Michael Jayston, Bernard Hepton, Anthony Bate, Ian Bannen, George Sewell and Michael Aldridge, was broadcast from 10 September to 22 October 1979. George Smiley, the ageing master spy of the Cold War and once heir-apparent to Control, is brought back out of retirement to flush out a top level mole within the Circus. Smiley must travel back through his life and murky workings of the Circus to unravel the net spun by his nemesis Karla 'The Sandman' of the KGB and reveal the identity of the mole before he disappears.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

1979

Cluedo poster
6.7

Cluedo was a UK television game show based on the board game of the same name. Each week, a reenactment of the murder at the stately home Arlington Grange of a visiting guest was played and, through a combination of interrogating the suspects and deduction, celebrity guests had to discover who committed the murder, which of six weapons and in which room it was committed, whilst viewers were invited to play along at home.

Cluedo

1990

The Power Game poster
10.0

The Power Game is an ITV drama spin-off from The Plane Makers (1963–65), created by Wilfred Greatorex. Broadcast for three 13-episode series, Patrick Wymark reprised his role as Sir John Wilder, who here ruthlessly pursues boardroom machinations and tangled relationships.

The Power Game

1965

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

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

Stay Lucky poster
7.0

Drama about a small-time gangster Thomas Gynn (Dennis Waterman) from London who discovers a new life up north in Yorkshire. Helping widowed, self-sufficient businesswoman Sally Hardcastle (Jan Francis) when her car breaks down on the motorway, Thomas reluctantly accepts an offer of a lift to Leeds. Over the coming months, the two become involved in a series of misadventures that soon find them being drawn closer together.

Stay Lucky

1989

C.A.T.S. Eyes poster
6.0

C.A.T.S. Eyes is a British television series made by TVS for ITV between 1985 and 1987. A spin-off of the series The Gentle Touch, Maggie Forbes leads an all-female detective agency called "Eyes" that secretly operates as a Home Office team known as C.A.T.S. (Covert Activities Thames Section).

C.A.T.S. Eyes

1985