Evan Jones
Writing
Biography
Evan Jones (29 December 1927 – 18 April 2023) was an influential Jamaican playwright, poet and novelist. He is best known for his screenplay for Wake in Fright (1971), a Palme d'Or nominated, 2009 Cannes Classic championed by Martin Scorsese; it is one of only two films to ever be screened twice at the festival. Jones was the recipient of the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize for The Fight Against Slavery (1975), a limited series created and presented by him for the BBC. He is also the writer of Madhouse on Castle Street (1963), a television play which featured the acting début of Bob Dylan. Over the course of his career, Jones collaborated with a number of notable figures of twentieth century cinema, including Harold Pinter, John Huston, Michael Caine, Dirk Bogarde, Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Sylvester Stallone and Max von Sydow. Jones' archive is held by the Bodleian Library at his alma mater, the University of Oxford, who displayed his poetry as part of their 2024–5 exhibition Write Cut Rewrite.
Known For
A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.
Playhouse
Anthology series of half hour plays produced in BBC's Television Centre's studios.
Centre Play
A 1990 horror anthology series, with host Anthony Perkins presenting and screening tales based on Patricia Highsmith's short stories that display a sinister atmosphere, and delve into the darkest depths of human nature.
Chillers
A group of POWs in a German prison camp during World War II play the German National Soccer Team in this powerful film depicting the role of prisoners during wartime.
Escape to Victory
In the 1930s, Agaguk lives his traditional Inuit life. But one day, there is a murder in the tribe and Agaguk becomes a suspect. Soon he becomes persecuted by Henderson, a mean mountie, and he must flee through the cold winter of Northern Quebec.
Shadow of the Wolf
A young schoolteacher descends into personal moral degradation after finding himself stranded in a brutal, menacing town in outback Australia.
Wake in Fright
Colonel Stok, a Soviet intelligence officer responsible for security at the Berlin Wall, appears to want to defect but the evidence is contradictory. Stok wants the British to handle his defection and asks for one of their agents, Harry Palmer, to smuggle him out of East Germany.
Funeral in Berlin
The true story of jockey Bob Champion who overcame cancer to win the 1981 Grand National
Champions
Modesty Blaise, a secret agent whose hair color, hair style, and mod clothing change at a snap of her fingers is being used by the British government as a decoy in an effort to thwart a diamond heist. She is being set up by the feds but is wise to the plot and calls in sidekick Willie Garvin and a few other friends to outsmart them. Meanwhile, at his island hideaway, Gabriel, the diamond thief has his own plans for Blaise and Garvin.
Modesty Blaise
In this thriller, television reporter Kate Ryan de Meléndez investigates the death of two radical Puerto Rican activists, whom she begins to believe may have been framed and murdered by undercover American agents.
A Show of Force
Best-selling author Tyvian Jones has a life of leisure in Venice, Italy, until he has a chance encounter with sultry Frenchwoman Eva Olivier. He falls for her instantly, despite already having wedding plans with Francesca Ferrara. Winning Eva's affection proves elusive; she's more interested in money than in love. But Tyvian remain steadfast in his obsession, going after Eva with a fervor that threatens to destroy his life.
Eva
No description available.
The Fight Against Slavery
During World War I, Army Private Arthur James Hamp is accused of desertion during battle. The officer assigned to defend him at his court-martial, Captain Hargreaves, finds out there is more to the case than meets the eye.
King and Country
An American tourist and a troubled young woman are chased by her gang leader brother to a top secret British government facility that conducts experiments on children.
The Damned
A mild-mannered English conscientious objector moves to what he feels will be the relative calm of Australia after World War I, but gets caught in the middle of violent battles between the rising trade unions and fascist groups.
Kangaroo
A woman recovering from a nervous breakdown tries to convince her husband and and the local London police that she has witnessed a murder in the abandoned house next door.
Night Watch
Jessica Simmonds returns from overseas to find her retired professor father in a bitter public fight to save the historic Sydney waterfront houses on Angel Street. After her father's mysterious death, she joins forces with local residents and a union leader against corrupt forces. Based on the real life mysterious disappearance of Juanita Nielsen.
The Killing of Angel Street
A pirate crewman kills his captain after learning where he has hidden his buried treasure. However, as he begins to lose his memory, he relies more and more on the ghost of the man he just murdered to help him find the loot.
Ghost in the Noonday Sun
An aging businessman's squabbling children object to his proposed marriage to his much younger assistant, and each for his or her own selfish reasons manoeuvres against it.
Old Man's Fancy
An insecure Briton and a Briton of Jamaican descent share a London apartment together.