Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows With Alvin Rakoff

1. The Saint (1962–1969)

TV-PG | 50 min | Action, Crime, Drama

Simon "The Saint" Templar, a wealthy adventurer and 20th-century Robin Hood, travels the world in his white Volvo P1800S, solving unsolvable problems and righting wrongs.

Stars: Roger Moore, Ivor Dean, Leslie Crawford, Justine Lord

Votes: 6,221

2. Death Ship (1980)

R | 91 min | Adventure, Horror, Mystery

A mysterious ghostly freighter rams and sinks a modern day cruise ship whose survivors climb aboard the freighter and discover that it is a World War II Nazi torture vessel.

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: George Kennedy, Richard Crenna, Nick Mancuso, Sally Ann Howes

Votes: 5,702

3. Autopsy: The Last Hours of (2014– )

45 min | Documentary, Biography

A forensic pathologist (currently Dr. Michael Hunter) analyzes the official autopsy reports of various celebrities to determine their cause of death.

Stars: Michael Hunter, Eric Meyers, Linda Papadopoulos, Iain Glen

Votes: 831

4. Z Cars (1962–1978)

TV-14 | Crime, Drama

A gritty drama which follows the work of the police force in the fictional town of Newtown in the North of England.

Stars: James Ellis, John Slater, Douglas Fielding, Bernard Holley

Votes: 382

5. ITV Saturday Night Theatre (1969–1974)

78 min | Drama

Anthology series of dramatic works.

Stars: Michael Balfour, Madoline Thomas, Diane Cilento, Jim Dale

Votes: 98

6. The Anniversary (1968)

Approved | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Thriller

Three sons who work in the family construction business help their overbearing mother celebrate her anniversary to her late husband.

Directors: Roy Ward Baker, Alvin Rakoff | Stars: Bette Davis, Sheila Hancock, Jack Hedley, James Cossins

Votes: 2,848

7. BBC Play of the Month (1965–1983)

120 min | Drama

Monthly anthology series featuring televised versions of plays.

Stars: Charles Gray, Eric Porter, Jeremy Brett, Lally Bowers

Votes: 178

8. The BBC Television Shakespeare (1978–1985)

BBC adaptations of all 37 plays wholly and authoritatively credited to William Shakespeare.

Stars: Brenda Bruce, Jon Finch, David Gwillim, Rob Edwards

Votes: 52

9. City on Fire (1979)

R | 106 min | Action, Drama

A pyromaniac, ex-employee of a city oil refinery creates an explosion at the facility which starts a chain-reaction of fires that engulf the entire city.

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: Barry Newman, Susan Clark, Shelley Winters, Leslie Nielsen

Votes: 1,593

10. Armchair Theatre (1956–1974)

60 min | Drama

This show was a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and from mid-1968 by Thames Television.

Stars: Harry H. Corbett, Paul Whitsun-Jones, Billie Whitelaw, Neil McCallum

Votes: 246

11. A Dance to the Music of Time (1997– )

Not Rated | 416 min | Drama

Anthony Powell's twelve volume novel sequence "A Dance to the Music of Time" has been dramatized for television.

Stars: Gillian Barge, Nicholas Jones, Simon Russell Beale, Robin Bailey

Votes: 518

12. ITV Play of the Week (1955–1974)

90 min | Comedy, Drama

An anthology series from the U.K., from 1955 to 1974, producing about five hundred ninety-minute episodes from Granada Television.

Stars: Derek Francis, Alfred Burke, Arthur Hewlett, Esther Lawrence

Votes: 93

13. Rooms (1974– )

49 min | Drama

Two-part weekly dramas concerning the various drifters who rent rooms in a lodging-house.

Stars: Anne Dyson, Ian Redford, Jenny Twigge, William Marlowe

Votes: 89

14. Crossplot (1969)

PG-13 | 96 min | Crime, Thriller

An advertising executive sets out to find a woman for a new advertising campaign. His only clue to the woman is a photograph, and the search leads him into bewildering political ploys and mayhem.

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: Roger Moore, Martha Hyer, Alexis Kanner, Claudie Lange

Votes: 847

15. BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950–1959)

Drama

Series of television plays performed live.

Stars: Richard Caldicot, George Woodbridge, Robert Brown, Michael Brennan

Votes: 179

16. Hoffman (1970)

GP | 113 min | Drama

A businessman blackmails his attractive young secretary into spending a weekend with him. Though he's a creep throughout, he gradually emerges as a sympathetic character.

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: Peter Sellers, Sinéad Cusack, Jeremy Bulloch, Ruth Dunning

Votes: 1,764

17. ITV Playhouse (1967–1982)

Comedy, Drama

Anthology series of dramatic works.

Stars: Michael Bryant, William Simons, Katherine Barker, Geoffrey Palmer

Votes: 88

18. A Voyage Round My Father (1982 TV Movie)

Not Rated | 80 min | Drama

Before creating the beloved courtroom drama Rumpole of the Bailey (1978), writer John Mortimer found inspiration in his own life for this portrait of a difficult but enduring love between ... See full summary »

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Alan Bates, Jane Asher, Elizabeth Sellars

Votes: 232

19. The First Olympics: Athens 1896 (1984)

237 min | Drama, History, Sport

This movie describes the founding of the modern Olympics and concentrates on the creation of the American team and their trials in getting to the Olympics in Athens.

Stars: David Ogden Stiers, Hunt Block, David Caruso, Alex Hyde-White

Votes: 434

20. The Comedy Man (1964)

Approved | 92 min | Drama

Charles Byrd, known as "Chick", has spent his adult life acting in small repertory companies all over the UK, and he's never had much luck. All too aware that he's no longer young, Chick makes one last stab at finding success in London.

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: Kenneth More, Cecil Parker, Dennis Price, Billie Whitelaw

Votes: 306

21. The New Adventures of Charlie Chan (1957–1958)

30 min | Mystery

Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan is called in to help solve baffling cases, aided by his #1 son. The first five episodes were filmed in the US, then production switched to the UK for the rest of the series.

Stars: J. Carrol Naish, James Hong, Rupert Davies, Arthur Gomez

Votes: 142

22. Hot Money Girl (1959)

81 min | Adventure, Crime, Thriller

Hidden somewhere inside St. Teresa's Convent in Czechoslovakia is a box containing a fortune in jewels. A lot of people are after it.

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: Eddie Constantine, Dawn Addams, Marius Goring, Christopher Lee

Votes: 123

23. The Play on One (1988–1991)

Drama

Various plays from each of the home nations.

Stars: Kenneth Cranham, Tom Watson, Susan Wooldridge, Phyllis Logan

Votes: 58

24. Number 10 (1983)

52 min | Biography, Drama, History

The private lives of seven British prime ministers who resided at 10 Downing Street between the 1780s-1920s, including Pitt the Younger, Wellesley, Disraeli, Gladstone, Lloyd George, Asquith and MacDonald.

Stars: Neville Barber, Bernard Archard, Jeremy Brett, Denis Quilley

Votes: 52

25. Panorama (I) (1953– )

40 min | Documentary, News

Long-running factual programme reporting on all aspects of life in Britain.

Stars: Fred Emery, David Dimbleby, Richard Lindley, Richard Dimbleby

Votes: 599

26. Paradise Postponed (1986)

569 min | Drama

A clergyman, famous for his support of left-wing causes, dies, and surprises his family by leaving a great deal of money to a Conservative Member of Parliament. Why?

Stars: Annette Crosbie, Paul Shelley, Peter Egan, David Threlfall

Votes: 141

27. Dial 999 (1958–1959)

30 min | Crime

Robert Beatty stars as Detective Inspector Mike Maguire, a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman posted to New Scotland Yard, in this popular 1950s series depicting London's fight against crime.

Stars: Robert Beatty, John Howlett, Richard Bebb, Hugh Moxey

Votes: 109

28. King Solomon's Treasure (1979)

88 min | Adventure, Fantasy

Three adventurers lead an expedition into darkest Africa in search of the treasure of King Solomon, and on the way encounter hostile natives, volcanoes, dinosaurs and a lost Phoenician city ruled by a beautiful queen.

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: David McCallum, John Colicos, Patrick Macnee, Britt Ekland

Votes: 328

29. ITV Television Playhouse (1955–1967)

60 min | Drama

Richard O. Sullivan as a child genius in the play "Honour Bright".

Stars: Campbell Singer, Thomas Heathcote, Richard Caldicot, June Brown

Votes: 66

30. Dirty Tricks (1980)

PG | 95 min | Comedy

A Harvard University student finds a strange letter that seems to be signed by George Washington. Murder, mystery and hijinks ensue.

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: Elliott Gould, Kate Jackson, Rich Little, Arthur Hill

Votes: 157

31. Churchill's People (1974–1975)

50 min | Drama, History, War

A historical anthology series based on "A History of the English-Speaking Peoples", Winston Churchill's four-volume history of Britain and its former colonies.

Stars: Alfred Lynch, Bernard Hepton, Geoffrey Matthews, Mark Donaldson

Votes: 36

32. Room 43 (1958)

86 min | Crime, Drama

Cabdriver Constantine falls for French girl mixed up with white slave ring, eventually helps to liberate her.

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: Diana Dors, Eddie Constantine, Herbert Lom, Odile Versois

Votes: 397

33. BBC2 Play of the Week (1977–1979)

100 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Anthology of plays and novels adapted into feature length movies.

Stars: Judi Dench, Richard O'Callaghan, Frederick Treves, Clive Swift

Votes: 47

34. Court Martial (1965–1966)

60 min | Crime, Drama

During World War II, this crack team from the Judge Advocate General's office investigates crime all over Europe and then proceeds to the court-martial.

Stars: Bradford Dillman, Peter Graves, Kenneth J. Warren, Angela Browne

Votes: 69

35. Say Hello to Yesterday (1971)

GP | 96 min | Comedy, Drama

An affluent, middle-aged housewife in a failing marriage is romantically pursued by a young man while running errands in London.

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: Jean Simmons, Leonard Whiting, Evelyn Laye, Derek Francis

Votes: 201

36. Theatre 625 (1964–1968)

90 min | Drama

Drama anthology series transmitted on BBC Two.

Stars: Michael Bryant, Judi Dench, Maurice Denham, Margery Mason

Votes: 48

37. Hudson's Bay (1959– )

30 min | Adventure, Family, Western

Starring Barry Nelson and George Tobias. Western Series dealing with stories connected to the Hudson's Bay Company and its fur trade shortly after North America was colonized. Trappers, ... See full summary »

Stars: Barry Nelson, George Tobias, Eric Clavering, James Barron

Votes: 40

38. A Talent for Murder (1984 TV Movie)

80 min | Drama, Mystery, Comedy

A famed mystery writer (Dame Angela Lansbury) and her doctor ex-lover (Sir Laurence Olivier) solve her daughter-in-law's murder.

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: Angela Lansbury, Laurence Olivier, Hildegard Neil, Charles Keating

Votes: 171

39. The Best of Friends (1991 TV Movie)

81 min | Biography

Adapted from their letters and journals, this is a portrayal of the unique twenty-five-year friendship shared by Dame Laurentia McLachlan (Benedictine nun), Sir Sydney Cockerell (museum ... See full summary »

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Patrick McGoohan, Amma Asante

Votes: 122

40. Shades of Greene (1975– )

60 min | Drama

A collection of odd stories from the writer Graham Greene.

Stars: Denholm Elliott, Shane Briant, Neville Phillips, Ian Hendry

Votes: 31

41. BBC Sunday-Night Play (1960–1963)

60 min | Drama

BBC Sunday-Night Play is the anthology drama series which replaced Sunday Night Theatre in 1960.

Stars: Brian Rix, Joby Blanshard, Cyril Luckham, John Bennett

Votes: 131

42. Blood Money (1957 TV Movie)

90 min | Action, Drama

"Mountain" McClintock is over the hill as a boxer, but his corrupt manager keeps putting him back in the ring.

Director: Ralph Nelson | Stars: Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Jacqueline Hill, George Margo

Votes: 100

43. All for Love (1982–1983)

60 min | Romance

Anthology of stories about love, many adapted from short stories or novels.

Stars: Alick Hayes, Dilys Worsfold, Joan Plowright, Geraldine McEwan

Votes: 17

44. The Ransom of Red Chief (1959 TV Movie)

Comedy

Based upon a famous O. Henry short story, two crooks think they have an opportunity to make a quick buck by kidnapping a rich man's son. Ironically, the hostage takers become the hostages ... See full summary »

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: William Bendix, Russell Collins, Hans Conried, Teddy Rooney

Votes: 32

45. The World in My Pocket (1961)

93 min | Crime, Thriller, Drama

When an enigmatic woman hires a group of criminals to rob a US Army payroll armored truck bound for Marseilles things go wrong.

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: Nadja Tiller, Rod Steiger, Peter van Eyck, Jean Servais

Votes: 114

46. Private Affairs (1975)

50 min | Drama

Series of plays about the romantic entanglements hidden behind the public images of famous historical figures.

Stars: Helen Mirren, Ian Holm, David Hemmings, Sorcha Cusack

47. Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson (1983 TV Movie)

55 min | Comedy, Drama

At the funeral of Mr. Halpern's wife he meets Mr. Johnson who confides in him that he fell in love with Mrs. Halpern even before she met her husband and has been seeing her regularly during all the years of her marriage.

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Jackie Gleason

Votes: 108

48. ITV Sunday Night Drama (1959–1980)

Comedy, Drama, Romance

ITV Sunday Night Drama is a UK television anthology series produced by ABC Weekend Television, Associated Television (ATV), Associated-Rediffusion Television, and Granada Television.

Stars: André Morell, Victor Platt, Anthony Mayne, Donald Houston

Votes: 27

49. Three Dangerous Ladies (1977)

88 min | Horror, Mystery

Three unrelated horror shorts from 1975 UK horror anthology series "Classics Dark and Dangerous" edited together into one horror film anthology with three segments. Each story features a woman who willingly or unwillingly spreads evil.

Directors: Robert Fuest, Alvin Rakoff, Don Thompson | Stars: Ronee Blakley, Graham Crowden, Ed Devereaux, Keir Dullea

Votes: 121

50. Mrs. Amworth (1978)

29 min | Short, Horror, Mystery

A vampire terrorizes a quiet English town.

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: Glynis Johns, Derek Francis, John Phillips, Pip Miller

Votes: 103