Yellowthread Street

Yellowthread Street
Title card
Genre	Action • Crime • Thriller
Developed by	Ranald Graham
Directed by	Roger Cheveley Syd Macartney Gerry Mill Ian Stuttard Tim Dowd
Starring	Ray Lonnen Doreen Chan Bruce Payne Robert Taylor Tzi Ma Mark McGann Catherine Neilson
Theme music composer	Roger Bellon
Opening theme	"Yellowthread Street"
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Keith Richardson
Producer(s)	Ranald Graham
Production location(s)	Hong Kong
Editor(s)	Paul Martin Smith
Running time	50 minutes
Production company(s)	Yorkshire Television
Release
Original network	ITV
Picture format	4:3
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	13 January (1990-01-13) – 7 April 1990 (1990-04-07)

Yellowthread Street is a British television police drama, first broadcast in 1990, that focuses on the work of a group of detectives in the Royal Hong Kong Police. Developed and produced by Ranald Graham, the series was loosely based on the novels by William Leonard Marshall. A single series of thirteen episodes was produced by Yorkshire Television and broadcast on ITV from 13 January to 7 April 1990.^[1] The series starred Ray Lonnen as principal character Alex Vale, with Bruce Payne, Robert Taylor, Tzi Ma, Mark McGann and Catherine Neilson also appearing as detectives in the series.^[2]

The series was well received by viewers and critics alike, despite only lasting one series. However, the series also received negative press, with Matters Criminous stating that "The series chiefest goal seemed to have been to explore just how very badly a dramatisation can corrupt and befoul the ideas and characters of a book."^[3] The series was also celebrated for the use of new state of the art technology involved with the production, including becoming one of the first series on British television to be filmed in Stereo.^[4] The Daily Mail stated that at the time of broadcast, the series' cult following lead to an unexpected wave of purchases of Hi-Fi Stereo speakers. Notably, the series has never been released on DVD.^[5]

Novels

In the Yellowthread Street novels, the detectives of the Yellowthread Street police station are based in the fictitious Hong Bay, Hong Kong.^[6] Four principal characters are featured in the novels: DCI Harry Feiffer, a European-born detective raised in Hong Kong; Senior Inspector Christopher O'Yee, a half-Chinese, half-Caucasian American; and the ever-bickering team of Inspectors Auden and Spencer, who attempt to find the rational basis for inexplicable and seemingly bizarre crimes.

One of the most notable novels is 1988's Out of Nowhere, in which DCI Feiffer must figure out why in the pre-dawn hours, four people in a plate-glass-filled van with Chinese Opera blaring out the tape deck were driving on the wrong side of a deserted motorway, miles from the nearest on-ramp, before dying in a violent collision with an oncoming lorry.^[7] Sixteen novels were published between 1975 and 1998: Yellowthread Street (1975), The Hatchet Man (1976), Gelignite (1976), Thin Air (1977), Skulduggery (1979), Sci-fi (1981), Perfect End (1981), War Machine (1982), The Far Away Man (1984), Roadshow (1985), Head First (1986), Frogmouth (1987), Out of Nowhere (1988), Inches (1994), Nightmare Syndrome (1997) and To The End (1998).

Cast

• Ray Lonnen as Chief Inspector Alex Vale
• Doreen Chan as Detective Jackie Wu
• Bruce Payne as Detective Nick Eden
• Robert Taylor as Detective Peter Marenta
• Tzi Ma as Detective Eddie Pak
• Mark McGann as Detective CJ Brady
• Catherine Neilson as Detective Kelly Lang

Recurring Cast

• Kenny Chan as Detective Chan
• Diego Swing as Frankie Ku
• Ming-Yang Li as Blind Beggar
• Christopher Leung as Szi Tai
• Winnie Tang as Jei

Episodes

References

External links

• Yellowthread Street on IMDb