
Acting
Helen Ryan
Born
1938-06-16 (88)
Place of birth
Liverpool, England, UK
Known for
Acting
Credits
32 titles
Helen Ryan (born June 16, 1938, in Liverpool, Lancashire) is a British actress, who is notable for playing several royal roles. The Liverpool native played Princess and then Queen Alexandra in the British television series Edward the Seventh, for which she received a BAFTA nomination in 1975. She also played Princess Alexandra in the 1980 movie The Elephant Man and the Sherlock Holmes story "The Mazarin Stone". She played another royal, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, in the 2002 television drama Bertie and Elizabeth. Her other credits include Madame Balzac in the TV series Prometheus: The Life of Balzac (1975), Mrs. McFarlane in the Sherlock Holmes story "The Norwood Builder", and fil…
Known for
7.5The 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
8.2The gripping, decades-spanning inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers who shaped Britain's post-war destiny. The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. Two houses, two courts, one Crown.
The Crown
2016
7.1Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.
Heartbeat
1992
8.2Sherlock 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
4.6Bella Block is a long-running German detective television series starring Hannelore Hoger, first broadcast in 1994 on ZDF. In 2010 the 30th series was produced.
Bella Block
1993
6.2Van 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
2010s · 2 titles
8.0The extraordinary true story of Saddam Hussein's farcical venture into the movie business: a story involving Oliver Reed, big budgets, war, debauchery and a film lost in a Surrey garage for 35 years
Saddam Goes to Hollywood
2016
5.0A rural romance that centers around the story of a lonely old man, his ideal companion and one raisin.
The Raisin
2017
2000s · 3 titles
5.4A mockumentary that follows three couples as they battle it out to win the coveted title of 'Most Original Wedding of the Year'.
Confetti
2006
6.7The life of England’s George VI, who was forced to become King following the abdication of his brother, and his relationship with his wife, Elizabeth.
Bertie and Elizabeth
2002
5.7Dramatisation of the real-life case of George Joseph Smith who was hanged in 1915 for the murder of his three wives, each of whom he killed in turn by drowning them in the bath while trying to make the deaths look like accidents.
The Brides in the Bath
2003
1980s · 5 titles
8.1A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity.
The Elephant Man
1980
6.7Deserted by their father and with their mother dead, nine-year-old Pablo and his little sister Maria refuse to be separated from each other by their caretaker aunt. With a cross as their guide, they embark on a perilous, but ultimately rewarding adventure in search of a mystical gem that holds the key to happiness. They escape the fearsome metal hook of a pirate and are helped by a delightfully drunken Captain in their quest for the magic stone.
Crystalstone
1987
6.5A workaholic father becomes sole parent to his two young sons, and finds it hard to relate to them, consumed as he is with his own grief.
Misunderstood
1983
7.5During the British colonial period in Iraq, Sheikh Dhari and his tribe openly reject colonization and employ peaceful resistance against the British occupation. In response, the English forces resort to violence, targeting Sheikh Dhari's locations in their confrontation with Laghman. When he is captured, they accuse him of blocking the road, revealing the schemes orchestrated by Britain in Iraq.
Clash of Loyalties
1983
A dying woman recalls the happier days of her past.
The Christmas Tree
1986
Series credits
7.5The 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
8.2The gripping, decades-spanning inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers who shaped Britain's post-war destiny. The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. Two houses, two courts, one Crown.
The Crown
2016
7.1Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.
Heartbeat
1992
8.2Sherlock 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
8.2Sherlock 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
4.6Bella Block is a long-running German detective television series starring Hannelore Hoger, first broadcast in 1994 on ZDF. In 2010 the 30th series was produced.
Bella Block
1993
6.2Van 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
8.0In 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
6.6Living with her snobby family on the brink of bankruptcy, Anne Elliot is an unconforming woman with modern sensibilities. When Frederick Wentworth – the dashing one she once sent away – crashes back into her life, Anne must choose between putting the past behind her or listening to her heart when it comes to second chances.
Persuasion
1971
Harry is a television drama series produced by Union Pictures for the BBC, and shown on BBC1 between 18 September 1993 and 12 April 1995. The programme follows a journalist called Harry Salter, who ran a news agency in the English town of Darlington.
Harry
1993
10.0In Victorian London, consulting detective Sherlock Holmes wields not only powers of observation and deduction but also vast knowledge on anything relevant to solve mysteries, including crimes. Cases that would stump most detectives are merely short work for Holmes, who is ably assisted by his friend and colleague Dr John H. Watson.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
1984
6.6Edward the Seventh is a 1975 television drama miniseries produced by ATV. Based on the biography of Edward VII by Philip Magnus, the series features depictions of a vast number of historical figures including, but not limited to, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Arthur Balfour, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Edward VII, George V, Napoleon III, Nicholas II of Russia, Queen Victoria, Wilhelm I, Wilhelm II, Winston Churchill, Henry John Temple, and Otto von Bismarck.
Edward the Seventh
1975
6.6Edward the Seventh is a 1975 television drama miniseries produced by ATV. Based on the biography of Edward VII by Philip Magnus, the series features depictions of a vast number of historical figures including, but not limited to, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Arthur Balfour, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Edward VII, George V, Napoleon III, Nicholas II of Russia, Queen Victoria, Wilhelm I, Wilhelm II, Winston Churchill, Henry John Temple, and Otto von Bismarck.
Edward the Seventh
1975
4.5Fallen Angel is an ITV series broadcast on 11–13 March 2007 based on the Roth Trilogy of novels by Andrew Taylor. It tells the story of Rosie Byfield, a clergyman's daughter, who grows up to be a psychopathic killer. It has a unique narrative that moves backwards in time as it uncovers the layers of Rosie's past.
Fallen Angel
2007
8.5In this thrilling final series starring Jeremy Brett as the famous 'consulting detective' Sherlock Holmes, six of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short stories are adapted: The Three Gables, The Dying Detective, The Golden Pince-Nez, The Red Circle, The Mazarin Stone, and The Cardboard Box.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
1994
6.0Chronicles the lives of brothers Jonathan and Harold Dakers, in the Black Country, focusing on their close bond and the challenges they face, particularly during World War I.
My Brother Jonathan
1985
Hannah, a middle aged housekeeper, arrives in Radstowe to make a fresh start. She finds employment, friendship and romance but two men who know her "sordid" past threaten her newly found happiness. Period drama.
Hannah
1980
Anna, a sheltered teenager, ventures out to reconnect with her estranged father, now living with a glamorous partner in Hampstead. she gains newfound confidence, visits her brother in Bath, and falls for his flirtatious roommate Jake.
My Father's House
1981



