Yellowthread Street

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title: "Yellowthread Street" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1990s-british-drama-television-series", "1990-british-television-series-debuts", "1990-british-television-series-endings", "1990s-british-crime-television-series", "itv-television-dramas", "television-shows-based-on-australian-novels", "1990s-british-television-miniseries", "television-series-by-itv-studios", "television-series-by-yorkshire-television", "british-english-language-television-shows", "television-shows-set-in-hong-kong"] description: "1990 British television drama series" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowthread_Street" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1990 British television drama series ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox television"]

Field	Value
image	Yellowthreadstreet.jpg
image_size	250
caption	Title card
genre	Action • Crime • Thriller
developer	Ranald Graham
director	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
open_theme	"Yellowthread Street"
country	United Kingdom
language	English
num_series	1
num_episodes	13
executive_producer	Keith Richardson
producer	Ranald Graham
editor	Paul Martin Smith
location	Hong Kong
runtime	50 minutes
company	Yorkshire Television
channel	ITV
first_aired
last_aired
::

| image = Yellowthreadstreet.jpg | image_size = 250 | caption = Title card | alt_name = | genre = Action • Crime • Thriller | creator = | developer = Ranald Graham | writer = | director = Roger Cheveley Syd Macartney Gerry Mill Ian Stuttard Tim Dowd | creative_director = | starring = Ray Lonnen Doreen Chan Bruce Payne Robert Taylor Tzi Ma Mark McGann Catherine Neilson | narrated = | theme_music_composer = Roger Bellon | open_theme = "Yellowthread Street" | end_theme = | composer = | country = United Kingdom | language = English | num_series = 1 | num_episodes = 13 | list_episodes = | executive_producer = Keith Richardson | producer = Ranald Graham | editor = Paul Martin Smith | location = Hong Kong | cinematography = | camera = | runtime = 50 minutes | company = Yorkshire Television | channel = ITV | first_aired = | last_aired = | related =

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 season of thirteen episodes was produced by Yorkshire Television and broadcast on ITV from January 13 to April 7, 1990. The series starred Ray Lonnen as principal character Alex Vale, with Bruce Payne, Robert Taylor, Doreen Chan, Tzi Ma, Mark McGann and Catherine Neilson also appearing as detectives in the series.

The series was well received by viewers and critics alike, despite only lasting one season. 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." The series was also celebrated for the use of state-of-the-art technology involved with the production, including becoming one of the first series on British television with stereo sound. The series has never been released on DVD.

Novels

In the Yellowthread Street novels, the detectives of the Yellowthread Street police station are based in the fictitious Hong Bay, Hong Kong. Four principal characters are featured in the novels; DCI Harry Feiffer, of European heritage but third generation born and brought up in the Colony, Senior Inspector Christopher O'Yee, a half-Chinese 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 Feiffer must figure out why in the pre-dawn hours, four people in a plate-glass-filled van with Chinese opera blaring out of 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. 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

Main

• 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

• 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
• Nicholas Eadie as Finn

Production

The series cost approximately £8 million. This made it the most expensive series fully financed by an ITV company at the time of its broadcast.

Episodes

|EpisodeNumber= 1 |Title= Power Play |WrittenBy= David Wilks |DirectedBy= Ian Studdard |OriginalAirDate= |ShortSummary= |LineColor=87319F |EpisodeNumber= 2 |Title= The Lost Man |WrittenBy= Eric Wendell |DirectedBy= Roger Cheveley |OriginalAirDate= |ShortSummary= |LineColor=87319F |EpisodeNumber= 3 |Title= Key Witness |WrittenBy= Robert Hammond |DirectedBy= Syd McCartney |OriginalAirDate= |ShortSummary= |LineColor=87319F |EpisodeNumber= 4 |Title= Middleman |WrittenBy= David Wilks |DirectedBy= Roger Cheveley |OriginalAirDate= |ShortSummary= |LineColor=87319F |EpisodeNumber= 5 |Title= Angel Eyes |WrittenBy= Lawrence Gray |DirectedBy= Syd McCartney |OriginalAirDate= |ShortSummary= |LineColor=87319F |EpisodeNumber= 6 |Title= Fan Tan Man |WrittenBy= Steve Burns |DirectedBy= Roger Cheveley |OriginalAirDate= |ShortSummary= |LineColor=87319F |EpisodeNumber= 7 |Title= Rummy's Cut |WrittenBy= Claude Harz |DirectedBy= Gerry Mill |OriginalAirDate= |ShortSummary= |LineColor=87319F |EpisodeNumber= 8 |Title= Spirit Runner |WrittenBy= William Marshall |DirectedBy= Gerry Mill |OriginalAirDate= |ShortSummary= |LineColor=87319F |EpisodeNumber= 9 |Title= The Red Pole |WrittenBy= Steve Burns |DirectedBy= Ian Studdard |OriginalAirDate= |ShortSummary= |LineColor=87319F |EpisodeNumber= 10 |Title= Chinese Boxes |WrittenBy= Phil O'Shea |DirectedBy= Ian Studdard |OriginalAirDate= |ShortSummary= |LineColor=87319F |EpisodeNumber= 11 |Title= Slicing the Dragon |WrittenBy= Robert Hammond |DirectedBy= Syd McCartney |OriginalAirDate= |ShortSummary= |LineColor=87319F |EpisodeNumber= 12 |Title= Big Circle |WrittenBy= Steve Burns |DirectedBy= Gerry Mill |OriginalAirDate= |ShortSummary= |LineColor=87319F |EpisodeNumber= 13 |Title= I Knew a Man |WrittenBy= Lawrence Gray |DirectedBy= Tim Dowd |OriginalAirDate= |ShortSummary= |LineColor=87319F

References

References

1. "Catalogue".
2. TV.com. (January 2026). "Yellowthread Street".
3. "Matters Criminous: Yellowthread Street".
4. "Yellowthread Street Revisited | Impact Online".
5. (2007-08-13). "Yellowthread Street".
6. "Yellowthread Street Series by William Marshall".
7. "Yellowthread Street Mysteries".
8. Vincent, Sally. (2 February 1990). "Chinese Torture".
9. Lee, Harvey. (1 September 1989). "Levy changes spell the end for ITV's big budget dramas".

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