Jeremy Burnham

John Richard Jeremy Burnham (28 May 1931 – 31 December 2020) was a British television actor of the 1960s and 1970s, and a screenwriter. Burnham began in the 1950s as an actor and appeared in many popular British TV series such as The Avengers episodes "The Fear Merchants", "The Town of No Return", and "The Forget-Me-Knot", The Saint and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) in 1969. In the mid-1970s he retired from acting and concentrated on screenwriting. With Trevor Ray, he co-authored the fondly-remembered children's science fiction horror serial Children of the Stones (1977). A novelization followed, also in 1977. A sequel novel, Return to the Stones appeared in 2012 as an e-book and in 2015 as a physical book. Ray and Burnham collaborated on a less well-known children's five episode serial entitled Raven (1977); they also wrote the novelization (1977). He also authored the children's tennis-based novel, Break Point, which was made into a BBC television series in 1982. Burnham himself played the leading role of tennis coach Frank Abbott. Burnham also wrote for The Avengers, in which he had also appeared as an actor (see entry above), Minder and Peak Practice. He died in December 2020 at the age of 89.

Works

Peak Practice
6.1

Peak Practice

Peak Practice is a British drama series about a GP surgery in Cardale — a small fictional town in the Derbyshire Peak District — and the doctors who worked there. It ran on ITV from 10 May 1993 to 30 January 2002 and was one of their most successful series at the time. It originally starred Kevin Whately as Dr Jack Kerruish, Amanda Burton as Dr Beth Glover and Simon Shepherd as Dr Will Preston, though the roster of doctors would change many times over the course of the series. Cardale was based on the Staffordshire village of Longnor for the final series, but was previously based in the Derbyshire village of Crich, although certain scenes were filmed at other nearby Derbyshire towns and villages, most notably Matlock, Belper and Ashover.

Release Date:1993-05-10

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:9

The Paradise Club
5.8

The Paradise Club

The Paradise Club is a BBC television drama starring Don Henderson and Leslie Grantham as Frank & Danny Kane. Two series were produced and were broadcast between 1989 and 1990. The show focuses upon two brothers, Frank & Danny Kane. Their mother, Ma Kane, is the matriarch of a criminal gang in South London, helped by her son Danny. Frank has become a priest but leaves the church; he inherits The Paradise Club on the death of their mother and returns to London to try and steer Danny away from crime.

Release Date:1989-09-19

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:2

Vote Count:4

A Little Princess
7.5

A Little Princess

Sara Crewe is the pampered daughter of an army colonel in a Victorian London girls' school. But when her father dies, penniless, Sara becomes a skivvy in Miss Michin's school, befriended only by the scullery maid, Becky, her friends Ermengarde and Lottie, a little monkey, a lascar, and the mysterious man next door. Based upon the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Release Date:1987-01-18

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:6

Vote Count:21

Howards' Way
5.6

Howards' Way

The BBC's answer to Dynasty, Howards' Way was launched in 1985 with an enormous 1 million pound budget. The main characters in the show were 'best boat designer in the world' Tom Howard, his boutique running wife Jan Howard, 'I'll have a drink' Jack Rolfe and a nasty man called Ken Masters. It starred Maurice Colbourne.

Release Date:1985-09-01

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:7

Vote Count:7

6.0

Czech Mate

Vicky's ex-husband, John, invites her on a trip to communist Prague. First John disappears, then her passport. Vicky finds herself alone and penniless in Prague and becomes a tragic pawn caught in a web of espionage and murder.

Release Date:1984-12-03

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Vote Count:1

Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense
6.4

Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense

Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense was 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. The series was a co-production by Hammer Studios with 20th Century Fox Television, and is known in the United States as Fox Mystery Theater. Unlike 1980's Hammer House of Horror, all the episodes had American actors as either the leads or in key roles. It was first aired in the UK by ITV in 1984, though was not simulcast and was shown in different timeslots throughout the various ITV regions.

Release Date:1984-09-05

Character:Producer

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:8

Mitch
5.0

Mitch

Mitch is a newspaper reporter with a difference, he cares about the people he reports.

Release Date:1984-08-31

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:1

Seagull Island
4.8

Seagull Island

Barbara Carey flies to Italy to visit her blind sister Mary Ann, who is studying in a music academy. Once in Rome Barbara discovers her sister has disappeared and, according to the Italian police, she may have been murdered by a maniac who is obsessed with young sightless women. With the help of Martin Foster, from the British Embassy, Barbara starts trying to find out what happened to Mary Ann. She even pretends to be blind herself in an attempt to attract the killer, and finally the clues lead her to Seagull Island, privately owned by a mysterious British citizen named David Malcolm. Barbara must then find the answers to several questions: was Mary Ann really kidnapped? What happened to David's wife and son in the island? And why is David's relative Carol so unhappy to see a woman with him?

Release Date:1982-04-01

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:5

Vote Count:4

5.2

The Secret of Seagull Island

A woman searches for her blind sister in this feature-length English-language cut of the TV miniseries Seagull Island (1981).

Release Date:1982-01-01

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Vote Count:6

Bergerac
6.5

Bergerac

Bergerac is a British television show set on Jersey. Produced by the BBC in association with the Seven Network, and first screened on BBC1, it stars John Nettles as the title character Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac, a detective in Le Bureau des Étrangers, part of the States of Jersey Police.

Release Date:1981-10-18

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:17

Vice Versa (1981)

Vice Versa (1981)

This seven-part series from ATV was set in the Victorian era and based on a story published in 1882 by F. Anstey, the pseudonym of Thomas Anstey Guthrie. 13-year-old Dick Bultitude (Paul Spurrier) wishes he didn’t have to return to school, but having made his wish over the magical Garuda stone – a talisman given to him by his Uncle Marmaduke (Jeremy Child) – he finds himself magically transformed into his dapper but pompous 42-year-old businessman father Paul (Peter Bowles) – and vice versa.

Release Date:1981-09-29

Department:Creator

Job:Creator

Vote Count:1

Minder
6.8

Minder

This comedy drama series featured Terry McCann, a former boxer with a conviction for G.B.H., and Arthur Daley, a second-hand car dealer with an eye for a nice little earner. Alongside his many business ventures, Arthur would regularly hire Terry out as a minder or bodyguard, later replaced by nephew, Ray Daley.

Release Date:1979-10-29

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:2

Vote Count:24

Death Becomes Me

Two episodes of the TV series "The Persuaders" joined into a movie. Two playboys, Brett Sinclair (Roger Moore) and Danny Wilde (Tony Curtis), investigate crimes.

Release Date:1979-01-01

Character:Scott Maskell

Scorpion Tales
6.0

Scorpion Tales

Scorpion Tales was a British thriller television series, originally screened in 1978. Produced by ATV, the series was transmitted on the ITV network. It lasted just one season.

Release Date:1978-04-29

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:2

The Professionals
7.4

The Professionals

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.

Release Date:1977-12-30

Department:Writing

Job:Story

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:42

Raven
6.0

Raven

Raven is released on probation to live with Professor Young, an archaeologist immersed in research into Arthurian legend. He is compelled to fight a plan to build a nuclear plant on the research site, which holds many mysteries.

Release Date:1977-09-19

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:6

Vote Count:2

Children of the Stones
6.5

Children of the Stones

In a sleepy English village surrounded by a megalithic stone circle, an astrophysicist and his teenage son arrive to research the standing stones, but end up delving into the past in ways they never expected.

Release Date:1977-01-10

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:7

Vote Count:12

The Persuaders!
7.6

The Persuaders!

An English aristocrat and an American millionaire come together to tackle crime.

Release Date:1971-09-17

Character:Scott Maskell

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:112

5.9

The Horror of Frankenstein

Young Victor Frankenstein returns from medical school with a depraved taste for beautiful women and fiendish experiments.

Release Date:1970-11-08

Department:Writing

Job:Screenplay

Vote Count:76

The Expert
9.5

The Expert

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.

Release Date:1968-07-05

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:2

Vote Count:2

Gideon's Way
6.8

Gideon's Way

Gideon's Way is a British television crime series made by ITC Entertainment in 1964/65, based on the novels by John Creasey. The series was made at Elstree in twin production with The Saint TV series. It starred Liverpudlian John Gregson in the title role as Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard, with Alexander Davion as his assistant, Detective Chief Inspector David Keen, Reginald Jessup as Det. Superintendent LeMaitre, Ian Rossiter as Detective Chief Superintendent Joe Bell and Basil Dignam as Commissioner Scott-Marle. The show did not acknowledge any help from Scotland Yard, any other police force or advisor. Daphne Anderson starred as his wife, Kate with Giles Watling as young son, Malcolm, Richard James as older son, Matthew who seemed to have a lot of new girlfriends and Andrea Allan as daughter, Pru. Unusually for police stories, Gideon was shown as a family man at home though urgent phone calls from his bosses tend to disrupt family plans too often. However, he did admit in "State Visit" that his wife had walked out on him for a while years ago when he put the job first and her second. They live in an expensive detached house in Chelsea.

Release Date:1965-03-18

Character:Harold

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:4

6.2

The System

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.

Release Date:1964-04-12

Character:Ivor

Vote Count:16

Torpedo Bay

An Italian submarine captain tries to navigate his sub through enemy waters while being stalked by a British warship. They both make it to the neutral port of Tangiers where they agree a truce.

Release Date:1963-09-21

The Human Jungle
8.2

The Human Jungle

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.

Release Date:1963-03-30

Character:Robin Gratrix

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:4

The Saint
7.3

The Saint

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.

Release Date:1962-10-04

Character:Tim Burton

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:115

The Avengers
7.7

The Avengers

The Avengers is a British television series created in the 1960s. It initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed. Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants. His most famous assistants were intelligent, stylish and assertive women: Cathy Gale, Emma Peel and Tara King. Later episodes increasingly incorporated elements of science fiction and fantasy, parody and British eccentricity.

Release Date:1961-01-07

Department:Writing

Job:Teleplay

Character:Vicar

Episode Count:5

Vote Count:136

5.3

Upstairs and Downstairs

On marrying the boss's daughter, Richard takes his father-in-law's advice to hire a live-in domestic. He soon finds good help is hard to come by. Run-ins follow with dipsomaniacs, bank robbers, a Welsh lass who takes one look at London and runs, and an Italian charmer who turns the place into a bawdy house. Then when Ingrid arrives from Sweden things actually start to get complicated.

Release Date:1959-11-02

Character:Frank

Vote Count:7

5.6

Bachelor of Hearts

A German scholar has girl troubles while studying at Cambridge.

Release Date:1958-12-12

Character:Adrian Baskerville

Vote Count:7

6.2

Law and Disorder

When Percy Brand, a habitual confidence trickster, keeps being sent down, he goes to great lengths to ensure that his son Colin, does not find out about his criminal past. But when Colin becomes an assistant to the Judge, who is about to try Percy for his latest escapade, Percy and his gang have to come up with a plan, to stop them meeting in court.

Release Date:1958-06-09

Character:Colin Brand

Vote Count:8

6.6

Bonjour Tristesse

Cecile is a decadent young girl who lives with her rich playboy father, Raymond. When Anne, Raymond's old love interest, comes to Raymond's villa, Cecile is afraid for her way of life.

Release Date:1958-01-15

Character:Hubert

Vote Count:132

7.1

The Birthday Present

Returning from a business trip, toy salesman Simon Scott is caught attempting to smuggle a wristwatch bought for his wife's birthday through Customs. He is arrested and, due to a bungled defence by his solicitor, obliged to serve a three-month prison sentence. It is only the beginning of his woes; his employer, Colonel Wilson, is understanding, but he is ultimately forced to sack Simon, who discovers that finding another job under such circumstances is extremely difficult. But Colonel Wilson is determined to help his former employee find a solution.

Release Date:1957-10-31

Character:Dudley (uncredited)

Vote Count:4

The Good Companions

The story revolves around the Dinky Doos, a provincial musical troupe living from hand to mouth.

Release Date:1957-04-22

Character:Felton

7.2

Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst

While sailing lawfully up the Yangste in 1949, the British warship Amethyst found its return to the open sea blocked by Communist Chinese shore batteries that unexpectedly opened fire. In charge, Lietenant Commander Kerans was not however prepared for his crew and his ship to remain as a hostage for the Chinese to use as an international pawn.

Release Date:1957-04-01

Character:Flag Lieutenant

Vote Count:10

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