Mark Burns

Acting

Mark Burns

Born — Died

1936-03-30 — 2007-05-08

Place of birth

Worcestershire, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

68 titles

Known for

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

The Avengers poster
7.8

A quirky spy show of the adventures of eccentrically suave British Agent John Steed and his predominantly female partners. Jonathan Steed - an urbane, proper gentleman spy - teams with various assistants throughout the series' run, including Dr. David Keel, Cathy Gale, Emma Peel and Tara King, to repeatedly save the world from diabolical schemes plotted by equally diabolical evil-doers (among them robots and man-eating monsters).

The Avengers

1961

The Saint poster
7.4

Simon Templar is The Saint, a handsome, sophisticated, debonair, modern-day Robin Hood who recovers ill-gotten wealth and redistributes it to those in need.

The Saint

1962

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

Remington Steele poster
7.1

Laura Holt, a licensed private detective, opens a detective agency but finds that potential clients refuse to hire a woman, however qualified. To solve the problem, Laura invents a fictitious male superior whom she names Remington Steele. Through a series of events that unfold in the first episode, "License to Steele," a former thief and con man, whose real name is never revealed, assumes the identity of Remington Steele. Behind the scenes, Laura remains firmly in charge.

Remington Steele

1982

Bergerac poster
7.0

Jim Bergerac is a detective sergeant in The Foreigners Office who likes to do things his own way. While dealing with his own personal demons Bergerac has a knack of finding trouble, and sometimes causing it.

Bergerac

1981

Film credits

1990s · 7 titles

Bullseye! poster
5.1

Spies force two British con men to pose as look-alike scientists peddling cheap-energy fusion.

Bullseye!

1990

Sharpe: The Legend poster
6.1

Several years after the battle of Waterloo, a former soldier from Shoreditch sits in a London inn reminiscing about the brave and determined officer who took him to hell and back. The narrator is Rifleman Cooper, and the officer whose fame he recalls is the legendary Richard Sharpe.

Sharpe: The Legend

1997

Dirty Weekend poster
5.0

Shortly after she moves into her own flat in Brighton, Bella finds she is being spied on and generally harassed by a man living across from her. Finally driven to solving the problem with a hammer, she realises she is then ready for a crusade against other such problem males

Dirty Weekend

1993

Sharpe's Honour poster
6.6

Spain, 1813. Sharpe is unwittingly caught up in a French plot; he is convicted of the murder of a Spanish nobleman and sentenced to death. This time he will need more than just his legendary courage to survive. In a desperate attempt to clear his name, Sharpe is forced to venture deep into enemy territory to capture La Marquesa, a beautiful French spy, who alone can prove his innocence.

Sharpe's Honour

1994

The Clandestine Marriage poster
7.0

A period film, set around an English country house whose owners want to arrange a marriage of convenience between their elder daughter and an aristocratic heir of a hard-up noble family.

The Clandestine Marriage

1999

Savage Hearts poster
4.3

When a beautiful mob hitwoman learns she only has six months to live, she decides to rob her employers, and go out in style, but the syndicate's head man won't rest until he gets his two million dollars back.

Savage Hearts

1995

Passport to Murder poster
7.0

After her divorce is final, socialite Helen Hollander heads to Paris and finds herself caught up in an international terrorist plot in this thriller. When Helen comes into possession of information vital to a terrorist organization, nefarious characters begin tailing her through Paris. A hunky private eye offers to help her, but Helen isn't sure whether he's on the up-and-up.

Passport to Murder

1993

1980s · 5 titles

1970s · 18 titles

Death in Venice poster
7.2

Composer Gustav von Aschenbach travels to Venice for health reasons. There, he becomes obsessed with the stunning beauty of an adolescent Polish boy named Tadzio who is staying with his family at the same Grand Hôtel des Bains on the Lido as Aschenbach.

Death in Venice

1971

Juggernaut poster
6.3

A terrorist demands a huge ransom in exchange for information on how to disarm the seven bombs he has planted aboard a trans-Atlantic cruise ship. Inspired by real events.

Juggernaut

1974

Brannigan poster
6.0

A hard-nosed Chicago cop is sent to London to bring back an American mobster being held for extradition. Brannigan in his Irish-American way brings American law to the people of Scotland Yard but has to contend with a stuffy old London first.

Brannigan

1975

The Stud poster
4.9

Fontaine Khaled is the London wife of wealthy Arab businessman Benjamin, whose money she blows on partying and on her nightclub, "The Hobo". She hires handsome Tony to manage her club, but it's understood that his job security is dependent on his satisfying her nymphomaniacal demands. He soon loses interest, and turns his attention to her stepdaughter Alexandra, who uses him to get back at Fontaine for cheating on her father.

The Stud

1978

Ludwig poster
7.5

Historical evocation of Ludwig, king of Bavaria, from his crowning in 1864 until his death in 1886, as a romantic hero. Fan of Richard Wagner, betrayed by him, in love with his cousin Elisabeth of Austria, abandoned by her, tormented by his homosexuality, he will little by little slip towards madness.

Ludwig

1973

Giordano Bruno poster
6.4

Fleeing from his enemies in the Catholic Church, the free thinking philosopher, poet and scientist Giordano Bruno has found some protection in Venice. But the Roman Inquisition, fearing his influence in Europe, wants to bring him on trial for 'heresy'.

Giordano Bruno

1973

A Long Return poster
6.8

David and Anna are a newly wed couple, whose lives together take a turn as Anna becomes diagnosed with a terminal illness.

A Long Return

1975

The Adventures of Gerard poster
5.9

Based on satirical short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about a vain, egotistical Etienne Gerard, a French brigadier serving during the Napoleonic Wars. He thinks he's the best soldier and lover that ever lived and intends to prove it.

The Adventures of Gerard

1970

Rosebud poster
5.1

In a bold coup a Palestinian terrorist group captures the yacht Rosebud and kidnaps the millionaires five daughters on it. At first they demand film clips to be shown on major European TV stations. Undercover agent Martin is hired to hunt the terrorists down.

Rosebud

1975

The Bitch poster
4.3

The owner of a trendy disco starts having problems with the men in her life and the Mafia, which is trying to move in on her place.

The Bitch

1979

A Day at the Beach poster
4.8

Bernie is a silver tongued wanderer with a fondness for drink and no clear goal in life. What was supposed to be a day of fun at the seaside turns to dust as he drinks his way through a seaside resort community, trailing his little niece Winnie.

A Day at the Beach

1970

Count Dracula poster
7.0

Jonathan Harker visits the Count in Transylvania to help him with preparations to move to England. Harker becomes Dracula's prisoner and discovers Dracula's true nature. After Dracula makes his way to England, Harker becomes involved in an effort to track down and destroy the Count, eventually chasing the vampire back to his castle.

Count Dracula

1977

The Maids poster
5.8

A film version of Genet's play. Two maids, Solange and Claire, hate their employers and, while they are out, take turns at dressing up as Madame and insulting her.

The Maids

1975

The Virgin and the Gypsy poster
3.1

Film adaptation from the novel by D.H. Lawrence, discovered after the celebrated author's death in 1930, a romantic love story tells of a prim young English girl who is sexually attracted to a seductively virile gypsy. The climatic dam burst is linked with the consummation of her desire.

The Virgin and the Gypsy

1970

Home Before Midnight poster
5.5

A successful rock lyricist becomes romantically involved with a girl he picks up hitchhiking only to learn that she is only fourteen. Her parents take action against him.

Home Before Midnight

1979

A Time for Loving poster
5.0

The story of an apartment in Paris and the various people that occupy it over the years.

A Time for Loving

1972

House of the Living Dead poster
4.8

On a South African plantation, a maniac is on the loose, first killing the estate's animals, then starting on the human members.

House of the Living Dead

1974

Degree of Uncertainty poster
8.0

Mature student, divorcee and mother of three Josie finds the social pressures in and out of university more demanding than her academic studies.

Degree of Uncertainty

1979

1960s · 12 titles

Exodus poster
6.7

Ari Ben Canaan, a passionate member of the Jewish paramilitary group Haganah, attempts to transport 600 Jewish refugees on a dangerous voyage from Cyprus to Palestine on a ship named the Exodus. He faces obstruction from British forces, who will not grant the ship passage to its destination.

Exodus

1960

Sink the Bismarck! poster
6.9

The story of the breakout of the German battleship Bismarck—accompanied by the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen—during the early days of World War II. The Bismarck and her sister ship, Tirpitz, were the most powerful battleships in the European theater of World War II. The British Navy must find and destroy Bismarck before it can escape into the convoy lanes to inflict severe damage on the cargo shipping which was the lifeblood of the British Isles. With eight 15 inch guns, it was capable of destroying every ship in a convoy while remaining beyond the range of all Royal Navy warships.

Sink the Bismarck!

1960

The Charge of the Light Brigade poster
6.2

During the Crimean War between Britain and Russia in the 1850s, a British cavalry division, led by the overbearing Lord Cardigan, engages in an infamously reckless strategic debacle against a Russian artillery battery.

The Charge of the Light Brigade

1968

Tunes of Glory poster
7.0

Following World War II in peacetime Scotland, brigade headquarters replaces commanding officer Major Jock Sinclair, a boisterous battalion leader, with the strict, temperamental Lieutenant Colonel Basil Barrow. Resentful toward his replacement, Sinclair undermines Barrow's authority and damages his successor's reputation among the soldiers. Barrow faces an uphill battle in regaining the discipline and respect of his battalion.

Tunes of Glory

1960

The Day and the Hour poster
6.7

In the midst of World War II, a French widow falls for a U.S. captain whom she hides from the Nazis and helps escape to Spain.

The Day and the Hour

1963

Life at the Top poster
5.9

Successful businessman Joe Lampton is married to the wealthy Susan, has two children, and lives in the mill town of Warley in northern England. But his career seems to have plateaued, leaving him disillusioned. This feeling is only exacerbated when he discovers his wife's infidelity with local man Mark. So he takes up with attractive TV host Norah and moves with her to London, aiming to reignite the fire that drove him to the top.

Life at the Top

1965

The Jokers poster
6.2

Brothers Michael and David Tremayne decide to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London, not for criminal purposes, but to make themselves famous.

The Jokers

1967

The System poster
6.2

In a seaside village, a group of local young men mingle among the seasonal tourists in search of sexual conquests. Near the end of one summer, the leader of the group, Tinker, a strolling photographer, aims to conquer a fashion model from a well-to-do family, but he finds himself unexpectedly falling in love. The tables thus turned, Tinker begins to see that maybe it's not the tourists who are being used in these sexual games.

The System

1964

I'll Never Forget What's'isname poster
5.4

Advertising golden boy Andrew Quint is fed up with his fabulously successful life. In very dramatic fashion, he quits his job to return to writing for a small literary magazine. He wants to leave his former life behind, going as far as saying good-bye to his wife and mistresses. He finds, however, that it's not so easy to escape the past.

I'll Never Forget What's'isname

1967

A Prize of Arms poster
6.7

A criminal gang sets out to pull off the heist of a large army payroll.

A Prize of Arms

1962

Death Is a Woman poster
4.3

Narcotics agent Dennis goes undercover in the Mediterranean Islands to investigate a smuggling operation, and gains the confidence of a woman who works for the ringleader. But Dennis ends up arrested for murder when the crime boss turns up dead.

Death Is a Woman

1966

No artwork available
9.0

Campbell Carter, in the process of building a luxury hotel, is aggravated by the fact that he cannot acquire a coffee bar and adjoining antique shop owned by Sid Light and his younger brother Bill. Carter tries several unsuccessful tricks to further his own ends. Largely due to the fact that Carter's daughter Carole falls in love with Bill, there is a conciliation between Carter and Sid who go into partnership. Sid's new idea of a band-and-dance show in Twenties style is incorporated in the hotel.

Take Me Over

1963

Series credits

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

The Avengers poster
7.8

A quirky spy show of the adventures of eccentrically suave British Agent John Steed and his predominantly female partners. Jonathan Steed - an urbane, proper gentleman spy - teams with various assistants throughout the series' run, including Dr. David Keel, Cathy Gale, Emma Peel and Tara King, to repeatedly save the world from diabolical schemes plotted by equally diabolical evil-doers (among them robots and man-eating monsters).

The Avengers

1961

The Saint poster
7.4

Simon Templar is The Saint, a handsome, sophisticated, debonair, modern-day Robin Hood who recovers ill-gotten wealth and redistributes it to those in need.

The Saint

1962

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

Remington Steele poster
7.1

Laura Holt, a licensed private detective, opens a detective agency but finds that potential clients refuse to hire a woman, however qualified. To solve the problem, Laura invents a fictitious male superior whom she names Remington Steele. Through a series of events that unfold in the first episode, "License to Steele," a former thief and con man, whose real name is never revealed, assumes the identity of Remington Steele. Behind the scenes, Laura remains firmly in charge.

Remington Steele

1982

Bergerac poster
7.0

Jim Bergerac is a detective sergeant in The Foreigners Office who likes to do things his own way. While dealing with his own personal demons Bergerac has a knack of finding trouble, and sometimes causing it.

Bergerac

1981

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

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

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

One Step Beyond poster
5.7

Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond is an American anthology series that dramatized purportedly real-life supernatural and paranormal experiences. The series was hosted by John Newland and ran for three seasons on ABC from January 1959 to July 1961.

One Step Beyond

1959

The Prisoner poster
7.7

After resigning, a secret agent is abducted and taken to what looks like an idyllic village, but is really a bizarre Kafkaesque prison. His warders demand information. He gives them nothing, but only tries to escape.

The Prisoner

1967

Secret Army poster
7.8

World War II drama about covert organisation Lifeline helping allied airmen escape after being shot down in occupied Europe, working with the Resistance and hiding from the Gestapo.

Secret Army

1977

Sharpe poster
8.0

Sharpe is a British series of television dramas starring Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe, a fictional British soldier in the Napoleonic Wars. Sharpe is the hero of a number of novels by Bernard Cornwell; most, though not all, of the episodes are based on the books. Produced by Celtic Films and Picture Palace Films for the ITV network, the series was shot mainly in Turkey and the Crimea, although some filming was also done in England, Spain and Portugal. The series originally ran from 1993 to 1997. In 2004, as part of ITV's new set of drama, ITV announced that it intended to produce new episodes of Sharpe, in co-production with BBC America, loosely based on his time in India, with Sean Bean continuing his role as Sharpe. Sharpe's Challenge is a two-part adventure; part one premiered on ITV on 23 April 2006, with part two being shown the following night. With more gore than earlier episodes, the show was broadcast by BBC America in September 2006.

Sharpe

1993

The New Avengers poster
7.2

The New Avengers is a British secret agent fantasy adventure television series broadcast during 1976 and 1977. It is a sequel to the 1960s series The Avengers and was developed by Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens. A joint United Kingdom-France-Canada production, the show picks up the adventures of John Steed and his team of Avengers fighting evil plots and world domination. Whereas in the original series Steed had almost always been partnered with a woman, in the new series he had two partners: Mike Gambit, a top agent, crack marksman and trained martial artist, and Purdey, a former trainee with The Royal Ballet who was an amalgam of many of the best talents from Steed's previous female partners.

The New Avengers

1976

The Main Chance poster
8.2

The Main Chance was a British television series which first aired on ITV between 1969,1970,1972 and 1975. A drama, it depicts the sudden transformation in the life of solicitor David Main who relocates from London to Leeds.

The Main Chance

1969

Mystery and Imagination poster
5.8

Mystery and Imagination is a British television anthology of classic horror and supernatural dramas. Five series were broadcast from 1966 to 1970 on ITV and produced by ABC and Thames Television.

Mystery and Imagination

1966

The Human Jungle poster
8.2

The Human Jungle is a British TV series about a psychiatrist, made for ABC Television by the small production company Independent Artists for transmission on ITV. Starring Herbert Lom, it ran for two series which were first transmitted during 1963 and 1965.

The Human Jungle

1963

Richard the Lionheart poster
9.0

A kid-friendly take on the exploits of King Richard the Lion Heart, from his participation in the Crusades, to his capture in Austria, to his final return to England.

Richard the Lionheart

1962

Redcap poster
8.0

Redcap is a British television series produced by ABC Weekend Television for ITV. John Thaw stars as Sergeant John Mann, a member of the Special Investigation Branch of the Royal Military Police. It ran for 26 episodes over two series between 1964 and 1966, being about 50 minutes in a 60 minute time slot. Surprisingly for a 1960s ABC Weekend Television programme, 23 of the 26 episodes still exist.

Redcap

1964

No artwork available
7.5

Studio 4 is an anthology drama series utilising BBC Television Centre's Studio Four, and running for two series in 1962 on BBC One. It was envisaged as a sequel to Storyboard, a similar anthology series which had been transmitted the previous year.

Studio 4

1962

Cribb poster
8.0

Victorian England, the late 1800s: Detective Sergeant Daniel Cribb of the newly formed Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is determined to remove crime from the streets of London using the latest detection methods.

Cribb

1980

By the Sword Divided poster
7.0

This classic period drama series follows the fortunes of the aristocratic Lacey family, living peacefully in Arnescote Castle until the onset of the English Civil War in 1640. Sir Martin Lacey, the head of the family, is steadfastly loyal to the King. However the family is torn apart when his eldest daughter Anne weds John Fletcher - son of a merchant family who support the forces of Cromwell.

By the Sword Divided

1983

Count Dracula poster
9.0

Count Dracula is a British television adaptation of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. It first aired 22 December 1977. It is among the more faithful of the many adaptations of the original book. Louis Jourdan played the title role.

Count Dracula

1977

No artwork available
9.0

Sword of Honour is a three-part miniseries produced as part of the anthology Theatre 625, and broadcast on BBC2, based on Evelyn Waugh's 1952–61 novels of the same name. It stars Edward Woodward as 35-year-old Englishman Guy Crouchback, who returns home from Italy at the start of WWII, determined to fight the good fight. Horrified by Nazi barbarism and emotionally shattered by a painful divorce, Crouchback eagerly accepts a post with the elite Royal Corps of Halberdiers.

Sword of Honour

1967

No artwork available
NR

Rupert of Hentzau is a 1964 British television series based on the novel Rupert of Hentzau which ran for six half-hour episodes. It starred George Baker, Barbara Shelley, Peter Wyngarde, John Phillips, Tristram Jellinek, Sally Home and Derek Blomfield. It was filmed at the BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane, west London.

Rupert of Hentzau

1964