Stephen Yardley Movies

In this suspense drama, Alan Terry (Rupert Graves) is a homeless man who wanders the streets of London. One night, Alan is trying to sleep near a bridge when he witnesses a strange and grisly murder; a man, speaking Italian, is hanged by four other men, one also speaking Italian while the other three have British accents. When Alan's presence is discovered by the killers, they give chase, and Alan is barely able to escape. However, the following day the papers report the death as a suicide; on the advice of his friend George (Graham Crowden), Alan goes to the police to tell what he saw. However, when Alan is introduced to Detective Matheson (Michael Gambon), the man investigating the case, he realizes that Matheson was one of the men who helped hang the victim. Assuming that Matheson would not be a good person with whom to discuss the case, Alan instead goes to Billie Hayman (Annabella Sciorra), an American journalist working in London who is able to bring Alan's side of the story to the people; Alan and Billie soon discover that this murder is far more complicated, and with more disturbing implications than they ever could have imagined. Though fictional, The Innocent Sleep was inspired by the true story of the death of Roberto Calvi, an Italian banker who was murdered in London in 1982. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In dire need of the valuable mineral Zyton-7, the Doctor (Colin Baker) and Peri (Nicola Bryant) journey to Varos, a onetime prison colony. Here they discover that the population is held in mental bondage by a network of video screens, which offer a 24-hour diet of televised tortures. Who - or what -- is behind this electronic outrage? Written by Philip Martin, the two-part "Vengeance on Varos" was originally telecast on January 19 and January 26, 1985; the two 45-minute episodes have since been recut into a four-part cliffhanger for American television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A movie version of the stage play The Doctor and the Devils, written in the 1950s by Welsh poet/playwright Dylan Thomas, had been planned and shelved by several filmmakers before producer Mel Brooks and director Freddie Francis finally brought the project to fruition in 1985. Essentially, the story is the old one about grave robbers Burke and Hare and Scottish surgeon Dr. Robert Knox (which also yielded the 1945 Val Lewton classic The Body Snatcher). Timothy Dalton plays 18th century doctor Thomas Rock, who must rely upon the disreputable Robert Fallon (Jonathan Pryce) and Timothy Broom (Stephen Rea) to provide fresh cadavers for Dr. Rock's teaching hospital. When they can't dig up corpses fast enough to suit Dr. Rock, Fallon and Broom decide to streamline their methods via murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this undistinguished crime drama, Peter Coyote plays a thief on the run after an attempt to rob an armored car in upstate New York ends in the death of a little girl. Her father sends a hitman (Philip Sayer) to avenge her death, and the rest of the film is a long series of near-misses as the hitman chases the thief, until the latter ends up in England at the home of a friend whose wife owns an amusement park. But in this jet age, an ocean does not offer much of a barrier, and the chase continues on British soil. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The villain was the hero of this 16-episode British drama series. Stephen Yardley starred as William "Spider" Scott, a wily cat burglar known to the coppers as the "XYY Man." Dogging Spider's trail every inch of the way was stalwart Detective Sergeant George Bulman (Don Henderson), who scored such a hit with viewers that he was spun off into his own series, Strangers and Bulman. The XYY Man originally aired in the U.K. from 1976 to 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the third episode of the six-part story "Genesis of the Daleks," the Doctor (Tom Baker) has been sent back in time to the planet Skaro, under orders to prevent the creation of the mutant Daleks. Complicating matters is the fact that the Doctor and his friends find themselves in the middle of the never-ending conflict between the Kaleds and the Thals, whose nuclear war has thrust Skaro into a second Stone Age. One of those Kaleds is the demented, deformed genius Davros (Michael Wisher), who holds the key to the Daleks' creation. First telecast on March 22, 1975, "Genesis of the Daleks, Episode 3" was written by Terry Nation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the fifth episode of the six-part story "Genesis of the Daleks," the Doctor (Tom Baker) steps up his efforts to prevent the demented, deformed genius Davros (Michael Wisher) from creating the mutant Dalek race. Unfortunately, the Doctor and his companions Harry (Ian Marter) and Sarah (Elisabeth Sladen) are trapped in Kaled City, where they are surrounded by fanatical supporters of Davros. Can the heroes count upon support from the pocket of anti-Davros activists within the city's walls? First telecast on April 5, 1975, "Genesis of the Daleks, Episode 5" was written by Terry Nation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The incredibly durable cop show Z Cars (pronounced "Zed Cars") was one of the great guilty pleasures of British television -- a program which everyone watched, but no one would admit to watching. Created by Troy Kennedy Martin, the series focused on a "typical" crime-ridden Liverpool police precinct. The cars driven by the law-enforcement officers were all Ford Zephyrs, hence the series' title. Understandably, there was a huge cast turnover during the series' 16 years on the air, with some of the original regulars leaving early on to star in the spin-off show Softly Softly. Debuting in a weekly 25-minute slot in 1962, Z Cars had expanded to 50 minutes weekly by the time its run ended in 1978; 667 episodes were filmed in all -- an astronomical figure by anybody's standards, even American television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide