James Laurenson

Acting

James Laurenson

Born — Died

1940-02-17 — 2024-04-18

Place of birth

Marton, New Zealand

Known for

Acting

Credits

88 titles

James Laurenson (1940-2024) was a New Zealand born actor predominantly based in the UK.

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

The Crown poster
8.2

The 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

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

Father Brown poster
7.7

Father Brown is based on G. K. Chesterton's detective stories about a Catholic priest who doubles as an amateur detective in order to try and solve mysteries.

Father Brown

2013

Silent Witness poster
7.6

A team of exceptional forensic pathologists and scientists investigate heinous crimes and use their skills to catch the people responsible.

Silent Witness

1996

Film credits

2010s · 7 titles

One Day poster
7.4

After spending the night together on the eve of their college graduation, Dexter and Emma are shown each year on the same date to see where they are in their lives. They are sometimes together, and sometimes not.

One Day

2011

The Riot Club poster
5.9

Two first-year students at Oxford University join a secret society and learn that their reputations can be made or destroyed over the course of one evening.

The Riot Club

2014

Private Peaceful poster
6.6

Set in the fields of Devon and the WW1 battlefields of Flanders, two brothers fall for the same girl while contending with the pressures of their feudal family life, the war, and the price of courage and cowardice.

Private Peaceful

2012

National Theatre Live: The Cherry Orchard poster
8.5

Madame Ranevskaya is a spoiled, aging aristocratic lady who returns from a trip to Paris to face the loss of her magnificent Cherry Orchard estate after a default on the mortgage. In denial, she continues living in the past, deluding herself and her family, while the beautiful cherry trees are being axed down by the re-possessor Lopakhin, her former serf, who has his own agenda.

National Theatre Live: The Cherry Orchard

2011

National Theatre Live: Hamlet poster
7.8

A 2010 broadcast of Hamlet returns to cinemas as part of the NT's 50th anniversary celebrations. Following his celebrated performances at the National Theatre in Burnt by the Sun, The Revenger's Tragedy, Philistines and The Man of Mode, Rory Kinnear plays Hamlet in a dynamic new production of Shakespeare’s complex and profound play about the human condition, directed by Nicholas Hytner. He is joined by Clare Higgins (Gertrude), Patrick Malahide (Claudius), David Calder (Polonius), James Laurenson (Ghost/Player King) and Ruth Negga (Ophelia).

National Theatre Live: Hamlet

2010

The Comedy of Errors - Live at Shakespeare's Globe poster
NR

Basing his plot on a farce by Plautus, Shakespeare caps the mayhem of his Roman original to build up a hectic tale of violent cross-purposes, furious slapstick and social nightmare.

The Comedy of Errors - Live at Shakespeare's Globe

2015

Holy Flying Circus poster
6.3

A fantastical re-imagining of the events of 1979, when Monty Python made Life of Brian and the debate about what is an acceptable subject for comedy was blown wide open.

Holy Flying Circus

2011

2000s · 5 titles

The Cat's Meow poster
5.8

Semi-true story of the Hollywood murder that occurred at a star-studded gathering aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht in 1924.

The Cat's Meow

2002

AfterLife poster
5.5

High-flying journalist Kenny Brogan (Kevin McKidd) is working on the story that could make his career when he is told his mother is terminally ill. With his father no longer in the picture, this means that the responsibility for looking after his Down's Syndrome sister Roberta (Paula Sage) falls to him. Conflicted by career aspirations and the difficulties in caring for his sister, Kenny at first begins to resent Roberta, until he realizes just how much she means to him.

AfterLife

2003

Three Blind Mice poster
4.1

Thomas is a talented computer programmer living in a vibrant, urban metropolis. Lonely and unsure about life, he finds solitude in the world of internet chat rooms, webcam sites and virtual communication. One evening, Thomas witnesses the brutal murder of a webcam friend and in a vain attempt to protect her he becomes the prime suspect in the homicide. Determined to prove his innocence, Thomas teams up with Claire, a specialist in internet crimes to uncover the truth. To expose the murderer, Claire and Thomas decide to set up their own webcam site using Claire as the cyber bait. Somewhere down the line the truth becomes blurred and Thomas no longer knows where to turn or who to trust. As his life starts to spiral out of control, he has to face the terrifying reality that he could be the next victim.........the virtual nightmare has only just begun.

Three Blind Mice

2003

Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley poster
6.6

A light hearted look at future Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's rise from research chemist in 1949 to becoming MP for Finchley in 1959, encompassing her early relationship and marriage to oil millionaire Denis Thatcher.

Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley

2008

This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper poster
7.0

This is a dramatisation of the real-life investigation into the notorious Yorkshire Ripper murders of the late 1970s, showing the effect that it had on the health and career of Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield who led the enquiry.

This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper

2000

1990s · 12 titles

Rainbow Drive poster
5.0

A Hollywood multiple murder is investigated by a homicide cop, despite high-placed efforts to cover up the crime.

Rainbow Drive

1990

A House in the Hills poster
5.6

Aspiring actress Alex Weaver eagerly accepts an offer to look after a luxury house in the hills while the wealthy owners depart for a weekend's sailing. The perfect place to relax and unwind, even the news that a murder has just occurred next door doesn't disturb her.

A House in the Hills

1993

The Cold Light of Day poster
5.0

A troubled detective befriends a single woman and her daughter with the intention of using them as bait for a serial killer.

The Cold Light of Day

1996

Sharpe's Regiment poster
7.0

June, 1813. Major Richard Sharpe's men are in mortal danger - not from the French, but from the bureaucrats of Whitehall. Unless reinforcements can be brought from England, the depleted South Essex will be disbanded, their troops scattered throughout the army. Determined not to see his regiment die, Sharpe returns to England and uncovers a nest of well-bred, high-ranking traitors, any one of whom could utterly destroy his career with a word, or a stroke of the pen. Sharpe is forced into the most desperate gamble of his life - and not even the influence of the Price Regent may be enough to save him.

Sharpe's Regiment

1996

The Care of Time poster
4.8

Robert Halliday is coerced into helping Karlis Zander, an international fixer, into editing a Russian terrorist's memoirs and ghostwriting an exposé of modern terrorists.

The Care of Time

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

Sharpe's Revenge poster
7.2

Toulouse, April 1814. The Peninsula war is finally over for Britain and its allies, but the action does not end here for Sharpe. He is set up once again by his long-time enemy, the French spy Ducos, and finds himself accused of stealing Napoleon’s priceless treasures. Having been abandoned by his beautiful wife Jane, who returns to England, and persecuted by both the British and French, Sharpe boldly goes in search of both truth and revenge, embarking on a perilous journey across post-war France with the help of his loyal friends Frederickson and Harper.

Sharpe's Revenge

1997

Sharpe's Mission poster
6.9

France, 1813. Wellington orders Sharpe to join the dashing colonel Brand on a hazardous journey behind French enemy lines with the aim of blowing up an ammunition store. Sharpe's wife Jane becomes disillusioned with Sharpe's frequent absences. Left behind in the camp, she warms to the attentions of another admirer. Meanwhile, Sharpe is out in the mountains and is dangerously outnumbered, with with the French ranks closing in. He must risk his own life, however, to confront a far deadlier enemy on his own side.

Sharpe's Mission

1996

Sharpe's Siege poster
7.2

Winter, 1813. Sharpe marries his sweetheart, Jane Gibbons, but has to leave her immediately to go on a dangerous mission in the Pyrenees, to capture a French fort. While Sharpe is battling with the French, his wife contracts a deadly fever which has swept through the British camp and endangers her life. Sharpe encounters his old enemy, Ducos and is compelled to stay at the fort and fight for his country, knowing that even if he survives he may never see his beloved bride again.

Sharpe's Siege

1996

The Vanishing Man poster
7.0

While Nick Cameron is returning to England from the continent with mysterious cargo in the cabin section of his small aircraft, he is thrown off-course by a severe electrical storm and loses radio contact. To his surprise and horror, he is arrested upon landing and accused of being a traitor in connection with the cargo he has been carrying - which, unknown to him, contained plutonium. Although he pleads innocent, Nick is not believed and is sentenced to a long term in prison. While in prison, he is subjected to special experimentation at a mysterious laboratory - with one unnerving, and unexpected, side-effect of the experiments being intermittent invisibility. —David McAnally

The Vanishing Man

1997

Dead Bolt Dead poster
9.0

Dead Bolt Dead takes a twisted look at the dark underworld of organised crime, with its assassins, its bosses, its drivers and its sharply suited thugs. Set in two locations in and outside London, it charts the night after a bold attempt to take out a rival gang fails.

Dead Bolt Dead

1999

Project: Tinman poster
3.7

A mechanical man with a moral code and soul looking for adventure and his creator after escaping the military. He attempts to discover the reasons why he was created. An action-adventure pilot for ABC, a series that never happened.

Project: Tinman

1990

1980s · 8 titles

Pink Floyd: The Wall poster
8.0

A troubled rock star descends into madness in the midst of his physical and social isolation from everyone.

Pink Floyd: The Wall

1982

The Monster Club poster
5.8

A vampire attacks a horror author on the street and then invites him to a nearby club as a gesture of gratitude, which turns out to be a meeting place for assorted creatures of the night. The vampire then regales him with three stories, each interspersed with musical performances at the club.

The Monster Club

1981

Countdown to War poster
6.8

Based on a play, the story details the dramatic negotiations between UK, France, Poland, Nazi-Germany and USSR from the day Czechoslovakia fell, until Britain's declaration of war on Germany caused by Hitler's invasion of Poland.

Countdown to War

1989

Jude poster
NR

Twelve-year-old Jude has never met Dick, his father. One Sunday afternoon Dick impulsively engineers a meeting, which has distressing consequences.

Jude

1980

Paint Me a Murder poster
8.5

Luke Lorenz is a artist whose paintings don't sell. His imaginative wife Sandra reasons that sales of his works would increase tenfold if he were to die, so they fake his death.

Paint Me a Murder

1984

The Man Who Fell to Earth poster
5.6

An alien lands on Earth, and decides that he needs to a job in order to raise money to build a spaceship so he can return to his home planet.

The Man Who Fell to Earth

1987

Heartbreakers poster
5.2

Blue, a yet-to-be discovered painter, is left by his longtime girlfriend because she considers him too immature for a lasting relationship. Eli, Blue's best friend, works for his father's garment business and is still searching for a woman who's interesting enough to spend more than one night with. Blue and Eli's friendship is put to the test when they both fall for Liliane, Blue's exotic gallerist.

Heartbreakers

1984

Thieves in the Night poster
7.0

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." Experiences in a kibbutz, it sets up a stage in describing the historical roots of the conflict between Arabs and Jewish settlers in the British ruled Palestine.

Thieves in the Night

1989

1970s · 13 titles

The Prison poster
NR

A successful Paris magazine proprietor embarks on a destructive voyage of self-discovery after his wife shoots dead her own sister, with whom he has had an affair for several years.

The Prison

1974

The Turn of the Screw poster
6.6

In a mid-19th century Essex country house, a young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed.

The Turn of the Screw

1974

Assault poster
5.5

After a schoolgirl is raped while taking a short cut through the local woods, and another murdered a few days later, the police are baffled. With the help of a reporter, and against the wishes of a local psychologist, a young schoolteacher uses herself as bait to lure the perpetrator out.

Assault

1971

Hamlet poster
7.0

Hamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.

Hamlet

1970

The Lady from the Sea poster
6.3

A lighthouse keeper's daughter, lives her opportunist marital life, until her past lover appears in her life.

The Lady from the Sea

1974

The Man in the Sidecar poster
10.0

Examines the relationship between Edith, a famous and successful novelist, and her writer husband, and how her own domestic situation is paralleled in her latest book about a woman enjoying the self-destruction of her husband.

The Man in the Sidecar

1971

The Tragedy of King Richard II poster
7.0

The Tragedy of King Richard II, by William Shakespeare. The actions and repercussions of a proud King, whose vanity and selfishness lead to his downfall.

The Tragedy of King Richard II

1970

Old Man March Is Dead poster
NR

In rural New Zealand an alcoholic ex-soldier is desperate to obtain more liquor. His family try to keep liquor away from him.

Old Man March Is Dead

1976

Edward II poster
4.9

England, 14th century. King Edward II falls in love with Piers Gaveston, a young man of humble origins, whom he honors with favors and titles of nobility. The cold and jealous Queen Isabella conspires with the evil Mortimer to get rid of Gaveston, overthrow her husband and take power...

Edward II

1970

No artwork available
NR

A group of travellers find themselves stranded at a strange airport.

Children of the Sun

1975

No artwork available
9.0

The english villages are under siege by Viking invaders, leaving destruction and fear in their wake.

The Winter Warrior

1976

The Witches of Pendle poster
5.5

A BBC dramatization of the Pendle witch trials of Lancashire, England that occurred in 1616.

The Witches of Pendle

1976

Quiet as a Nun poster
8.0

A reporter is asked to look into the mysterious death of a nun who died in a locked room at a convent. She had recently inherited a fortune. The reporter next leans off an apparition that haunts the hallways at night and seems to portend death. Flashlight in hand, she goes off in search of the "Black Nun."

Quiet as a Nun

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

The Crown poster
8.2

The 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

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

Father Brown poster
7.7

Father Brown is based on G. K. Chesterton's detective stories about a Catholic priest who doubles as an amateur detective in order to try and solve mysteries.

Father Brown

2013

Silent Witness poster
7.6

A team of exceptional forensic pathologists and scientists investigate heinous crimes and use their skills to catch the people responsible.

Silent Witness

1996

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

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

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

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

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

Cagney & Lacey poster
7.0

Mary Beth Lacey and Chris Cagney are teamed up as NYPD police detectives. Their opposing personalities (one is tough and the other sensitive) mesh to make this one of the great crime-fighting duos of all time.

Cagney & Lacey

1982

The Professionals poster
7.6

The lives of Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their controller, George Cowley. The mandate of CI5 was to fight terrorism and similar high-profile crimes. Cowley, a hard ex-MI5 operative, hand-picked each of his men. Bodie is a cynical ex-SAS paratrooper and mercenary whose nature ran to controlled violence, while his partner, Doyle, comes to CI5 from the regular police force, and is more of an open minded liberal. Their relationship is often contentious, but they are the top men in their field, and the ones to whom Cowley always assigned to the toughest cases.

The Professionals

1977

Hustle poster
7.7

A motley group of London con artists pull of a series of daring and intricate stings.

Hustle

2004

Endeavour poster
8.1

The early days of a young Endeavour Morse, whose experiences as a detective constable with the Oxford City Police will ultimately shape his future.

Endeavour

2013

Thirty-Minute Theatre poster
4.2

An anthology of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known.

Thirty-Minute Theatre

1965

Inspector Morse poster
7.9

Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis, as well as a large cast of notable actors and actresses.

Inspector Morse

1987

Dalziel and Pascoe poster
6.4

In the fictional Yorkshire town of Wetherton, the unlikely duo of politically incorrect elephant-in-a-China-shop-copper DS Andrew Dalziel (pronounced Dee-ell) and his more sensitive and university educated sidekick DS, later DI, Peter Pascoe is always on hand to solve the classic murder mystery, while maintaining down-to-Earth wit and humour.

Dalziel and Pascoe

1996

ITV Saturday Night Theatre poster
7.0

Anthology series of dramatic works.

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

1969

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

Taggart poster
6.6

Taggart is a Scottish detective television program. The series revolves around a group of detectives initially in the Maryhill CID of Strathclyde Police, though various storylines have happened in other parts of the Greater Glasgow area, and as of the most recent series the team have operated out of the fictional John Street police station across the street from the City Chambers.

Taggart

1983

Taggart poster
6.6

Taggart is a Scottish detective television program. The series revolves around a group of detectives initially in the Maryhill CID of Strathclyde Police, though various storylines have happened in other parts of the Greater Glasgow area, and as of the most recent series the team have operated out of the fictional John Street police station across the street from the City Chambers.

Taggart

1983

Prime Suspect poster
7.8

Highly skilled Detective Inspector Jane Tennison battles to prove herself in a male dominated world.

Prime Suspect

1991

Public Eye poster
8.2

Public Eye is a British television drama broadcast from 1965 to 1975 on ITV1. Produced by ABC Television for three series, and Thames Television for a further four, the programme follows the investigations and cases handled by the unglamourous enquiry agent Frank Marker.

Public Eye

1965

Lovejoy poster
7.4

The adventures of the eponymous Lovejoy, a likeable but roguish antiques dealer based in East Anglia. Within the trade, he has a reputation as a “divvie”, a person with an almost supernatural powers for recognising exceptional items as well as distinguishing genuine antique from clever fakes or forgeries.

Lovejoy

1986

The Hollow Crown poster
7.4

A series of British television films featuring William Shakespeare's History Plays.

The Hollow Crown

2012

Wolf Hall poster
7.5

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the King dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope and most of Europe oppose him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer, and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

Wolf Hall

2015

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

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 Expert poster
9.0

The Expert is a British television series produced by the BBC between 1968 and 1976. The series starred Marius Goring as Dr. John Hardy, a pathologist working for the Home Office and was essentially a police procedural drama, with Hardy bringing his forensic knowledge to solve various cases. The Expert was created and produced by Gerard Glaister. The series was also one of the first BBC dramas to be made in colour, and throughout its four series had numerous high quality guest appearances by actors such as John Carson, Peter Copley, Rachel Kempson, Peter Vaughan, Clive Swift, Geoffrey Palmer, Peter Barkworth, Jean Marsh, Ray Brooks, George Sewell, Anthony Valentine, Bernard Lee, Lee Montague, Geoffrey Bayldon, Mike Pratt, Edward Fox, André Morell, Brian Blessed, Nigel Stock, Philip Madoc and Warren Clarke.

The Expert

1968

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

Between the Lines poster
5.5

Detective Superintendent Tony Clark is an ambitious member of the Complaints Investigation Bureau, an internal organisation that investigates claims of corruption inside the police in England and Wales. Along the way Clark overcomes strong influence from his superiors and problems in his private life, most notably the break-up of his marriage following an affair with WPC Jenny Dean.

Between the Lines

1992

Centre Play poster
7.0

Anthology series of half hour plays produced in BBC's Television Centre's studios.

Centre Play

1973

Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense poster
6.5

A short-lived anthology television series from Hammer Studios. Though similar in format to the 1980 series Hammer House of Horror, the Mystery and Suspense series had feature-length episodes, usually running around 70 minutes without commercials. Co-produced by Hammer Studios with 20th Century Fox Television, it is known in the United States as Fox Mystery Theater. Unlike 1980's Hammer House of Horror, all episodes feature American actors as either the leads or in key roles. It first broadcast in the UK on ITV in 1984, though was not simulcast and was shown in different timeslots throughout the various regions.

Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense

1984

Hammer House of Horror poster
7.0

Each self-contained episode features a different kind of horror, varying from witches, werewolves, ghosts, devil worship and voodoo, but also includes non-supernatural themes such as cannibalism, confinement and serial killers.

Hammer House of Horror

1980

The Duchess of Duke Street poster
8.0

In 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

Born and Bred poster
9.0

In the 1950s at the fictional Lancashire village of Ormston, a father and son, both doctors, navigate the challenges of running a cottage hospital under the newly established National Health Service.

Born and Bred

2002

The Bourne Identity poster
6.5

Wounded to the brink of death and suffering from amnesia, Jason Bourne is rescued at sea by a fisherman. With nothing to go on but a Swiss bank account number, he starts to reconstruct his life, but finds that many people he encounters want him dead. However, Bourne realizes that he has the combat and mental skills of a world-class spy—but who does he work for?

The Bourne Identity

1988

Stingray poster
7.2

Ray is an enigmatic adventurer with no traceable past who travels from place to place fighting crime and helping people in trouble. He refuses to be paid for his services; however, those seeking his assistance must promise him a favor.

Stingray

1985