Trevor Byfield Movies
Originally telecast over Britain's ITV1 in 2000, the two-part mystery miniseries Thursday the 12th began with the discovery of an unidentified body on the estate of Marius Bannister (Ciaran Hinds), a wealthy dentist and politician. As an investigative TV reporter Julian Glover sifted through the particulars of the case, the viewer was introduced to the dramatis personae: Bannister; his wife, Nina (Maria Doyle Kennedy); their troubled adopted teenaged son, Martin (Jim Sturgess); and Nina's predatory sister, Candice Hopper (Elizabeth McGovern). In Rashomon fashion, a series of flashbacks indicated that any one of these worthies had motive aplenty to be a murderer -- and in fact, one of them was the victim. The key to the mystery was in the hands of Marius' supposedly senile father, Edgar Bannister (Peter Vaughan). In the U.S., Thursday the 12th first aired over the Bravo cable network on June 4, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jon Glover, Ciarán Hinds, (more)
A woman's past and present meet in one dangerous place in this tense British thriller. When she was only four years old, Michelle Wallace stood by helplessly as her mother was sadistically murdered, and as she's grown to adulthood, Michelle still carries emotional scars from the trauma. Now in her early twenties, Michelle (Rosie Fellner) is hoping to find a flat with her boyfriend, but in the meantime she rents a room in a decaying boarding house, where she's struck up a friendship with Charles Paskin, a middle-aged man living down the hall. Unknown to Michelle, Charles is actually a British intelligence agent with a license to kill, and he's currently involved in a secret mission to recover highly confidential files that have been stolen. Michelle unwittingly becomes involved in Charles' dangerous game when it's discovered there may be a link between the agents with the stolen files and the thugs who killed her mother. Distant Shadow also stars Stephen Tiller, Trevor Byfield, and Andrew Faulkner. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stephen Tiller, Rosie Fellner, (more)
Pierce Brosnan made his first appearance as James Bond in this action thriller, the 17th in the series (excluding the 1967 Casino Royale and the 1983 Never Say Never Again) featuring the suave British super-agent. As the story begins, Agent 007 and his partner, Agent 006 (Sean Bean), pull a daring raid on a chemical weapons plant in the Soviet Union; however, they are captured by Russian troops, and while Bond is able to escape, 006 is not so lucky. Several years later, the Soviet Union and the Cold War are a thing of the past, but Bond is still at work ferreting out evildoers everywhere. Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen), a beautiful but vicious villain working with the Russian Mafia, spearheads the theft of the controls to GoldenEye, a high-tech satellite weapons system, and with her gunmen, she kills most of the soldiers and guards at a top-secret military facility in the process. Bond joins forces with Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco), one of the base's few survivors, to help track down Onatopp's minions and the controls to GoldenEye, which can destroy all electronic circuits in a given area in a matter of seconds; however, in time, Bond discovers the true identity of the criminal mastermind who is behind this bid for unholy power and world domination -- none other than Alec Trevelyan, the man Bond once knew as 006. In addition to Brosnan, GoldenEye also marked another significant cast change for the Bond series -- Judi Dench made her debut as M, Bond's superior. Minnie Driver also has a cameo as a nightclub singer. Sadly, this was the last film in the Bond series for special-effects supervisor Derek Meddings, who died in the midst of production; the film was dedicated to him. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, (more)
- 1992
- Add Fool's Gold: the Story of the Brink's-Mat Robbery to QueueAdd Fool's Gold: the Story of the Brink's-Mat Robbery to top of Queue
A daring criminal finds that his troubles are only beginning after executing the biggest robbery in Britain's history in this crime drama starring Sean Bean and based on actual events. A low-level thug looking to turn heads in the London underworld, Mickey McAvoy (Bean) rounds up a fearless crew of criminals in preparation for the perfect heist. When the crew makes an unexpected discovery in the course of the crime and loyalties start to shift, the police pick up on a flaw in the plan and start to put the pressure on the one person who can blow the whole investigation wide open. As the authorities begin to close in on the brazen criminals, McAvoy has one more brilliantly devious trick up his sleeve that the police could never anticipate. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 1989
The four-part British miniseries Pursuit, based upon Robert L. Fish's novel of the same name, was first telecast in the United States as the two-part "movie special" Twist of Fate. Bruce Greenwood essayed the leading role of Helmut Von Schraeder, an ex-S.S. officer on the run after conspiring to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944. Undergoing plastic surgery, Von Schraeder assumed the new identity of Jewish concentration camp survivor Daniel Grossman. And as if that wasn't unbelievable enough, "Grossman" went on to a colorful career as an Israeli freedom fighter. The huge multinational cast included British film and TV stalwart Ben Cross and American leading lady Sarah Jessica Parker. Though made for British television, Pursuit did not air in that country until 1990, a full year after its American debut. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ben Cross, Veronica Hamel, (more)
- 1988
Stuart Orme directed this charming children's adventure-fantasy based on the book by Joan Aiken. Set during the imaginary reign of King James III, sometime in the last century, the story takes place in the snowbound and wolf-infested North Yorkshire countryside in England. The tale centers upon two children -- Bonnie (Emily Hudson) and Sylvia (Aleks Darowska) -- and how they attempt to foil a sinister plot by their evil governess Slighcarp (Stephanie Beacham). ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stephanie Beacham, Mel Smith, (more)
