British filmmaker John Irvin, known for action movies including Hamburger Hill and Raw Deal and BAFTA-winning TV series Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, has died aged 86.

According to Irvin’s producers, the multi-BAFTA nominee died peacefully at the UK home of his sister-in-law on 11th August, surrounded by his family.

Irvin made more than thirty features in a career that spanned TV, documentaries, and independent film.

Irvin was known for his versatility and breadth of career. In a 2021 interview with Roel Haanen, it was written: “Not many filmmakers directed both Fred Astaire and Patrick Swayze. Or followed up a tender, thoughtful film written by Harold Pinter with an Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick. But John did …”

Born to parents Charles and Elsie Winifred Irvin (neé Bending) his father Charles was a mechanical engineer who during the war joined the Royal Engineers and was deployed to the Middle East where he was involved in the construction of the Iran/Iraq Pipeline transporting oil from the Middle East. John Charles Greenway Irvin and his twin brother, David, were born in Wallasey Cheshire, on the 7th May 1940. Both boys went to Durham School, a renowned chorister school where John featured prominently in the choir. He was also a keen boxer and rowed competitively for Durham College

Irvin opted not to go to university; for a short while he taught Latin in a preparatory school to fund his enrollment into the London Film School. Irvin began his career working for British Movietone News. He directed his first film Gala Day (1963), a documentary financed by the British Film Institute, which was bought by the BBC. Within the same year his documentary short Inheritance (1963) was released. It was a film about the aftermath of the Algerian War, narrated by the legendary Richard Burton. It would win Irvin his first BAFTA, presented to him by Audrey Hepburn.

Throughout the sixties, Irvin made a number of acclaimed documentaries for his own company Mithras Films. He also worked during this time for the BBC and ITV where his work included several short films starring the young actors Edward Fox and Sir Anthony Hopkins. Irvin gave Hopkins his first TV role in The Peasants Revolt (1969), culminating in the same year was his omnibus film Beautiful, Beautiful (1969) an acclaimed documentary that highlighted photojournalists and the work of the war photographers who defined visual reporting in the 1960s. It featured Sir Don McCullin, Larry Burrows, Bruce Davidson and Eugene Smith, and was shot primarily in Vietnam, Northern Ireland and various conflict zones.

At the start of the seventies, Irvin began a prolific career in TV drama. He directed the acclaimed TV dramas The Nearly Man and Hard Times starring Timothy West for Granada TV. Then followed the critically acclaimed John Le Carre TV adaptation Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979) for the BBC. Sir Alec Guinness, Sir Ian Richardson, Sir Patrick Stewart, Beryl Reid O.B.E and Michael Jayston starred. The series scored multiple BAFTA wins and was Emmy-nominated in the U.S.

Guinness wrote in later years about Irvin that he “admired a director with balls behind the camera!”

For the next thirty years Irvin worked closely with Hollywood and various studios. First up of note was The Dogs of War (1980), an adaptation of the Fredrick Forsyth bestselling book starring Christopher Walken and Tom Berenger. Irvin followed this with the horror film Ghost Story (1981) starring Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and John Houseman. The film was the third-highest grossing horror film of its year, taking $24M at the box office.

Next, Irvin made the biographical film Champions (1984) starring Sir John Hurt, Turtle Diary (1985) was adapted for the screen by Harold Pinter and starred Sir Ben Kingsley, Dame Glenda Jackson and Sir Michael Gambon. Then Raw Deal (1986) starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. The well-received Hamburger Hill followed in 1987 starring Don Cheadle, Dylan McDermott, Michael Boatman, Steven Weber and Courtney B. Vance – a film about one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War. Paramount picked the film up for release stateside.

Irvin then made the crime thriller Next of Kin (1989) starring Patrick Swayze and Liam Neeson. Eminent Domain (1991) starred Donald Sutherland and Anne Archer. Next, Robin Hood(1991) starred Patrick Bergin and Uma Thurman. Widows Peak (1993), starring Mia Farrow, Dame Joan Plowright, Natasha Richardson, Jim Broadbent and Adrian Dunbar. Then, A Month By The Lake (1994) starring Dame Vanessa Redgrave, Edward Fox and Uma Thurman. In 1997 Irvin directed City Of Industry, a neo-noir crime thriller starring Harvey Keitel, Stephen Dorff and Timothy Hutton.

When Trumpets Fade (1998), with Ron Eldard, was commissioned by HBO as a forerunner to the same network’s Band Of Brothers.

It was at this time that Irvin, a longtime client of Independent Talent Group, made the move to making indie pictures in Europe. These include Shiner (2000) starring Sir Michael Caine, The Boys And Girl From County Clare (2003) starring Andrea Corr and Colm Meaney, followed by The Moon And The Stars (2006) starring Alfred Molina, Catherine McCormack and Sir Jonathan Pryce, and The Garden Of Eden (2008) with Jack Huston, Mena Suvari, Richard E Grant, Carmen Maura and Matthew Modine.

Irvin divided the last twenty years of his life between London and the Sussex countryside where he co-founded with his producer Claire Evans their own production company DearHeart. They began research in 2008 for Mandela’s’ Gun. Developed and researched by John and Claire, it was six years in the making and shot in seven countries… in 2016, producer Vaughn Mullady joined them. In early 2017 a festival cut of Mandela’s Gun was requested by the speaker of the U.K. Houses of Parliament to be screened in honor of President Nelson Mandela in the Speakers State Rooms where Mandela had been in residence.

At the time of Irvin’s death, he was working with new material and completing a final edit of Mandela’s Gun. He was also directing a feature documentary Water From An Ancient Well about his friend, the late and great South African musician Abdullah Ibrahim.

In 1970, Irvin married Sophie (neé Litchfield) who tragically died of cancer in 1991. Together John and Sophie had three children; Emilie, Luke, and Amy Irvin (who survive him) and two grandchildren, Finn and Isla Irvin, all of whom surrounded him in his final weeks and months of his life, rewatching movies with him while Irvin still found time to dictate work to his producers.

EXCLUSIVE: If Queen Flossie left you wanting more on Power Book III: Raising Kanan, Leslie Grossman will be back to reprise the role in the new prequel Power: Origins. Grossman will recur in the new prequel series, which picks up after the events of the Raising Kanan series finale.

When we last saw Florence “Flossie” Siegel, she denied Raquel (Patina Miller) a lifeline as the walls were closing in on the now deceased queenpin. Later, Flossie met up with Jukebox (Hailey Kilgore). Juke’s dad Marvin (London Brown) left a note behind for his daughter should anything happen to him. After his murder at the hands of his nephew Kanan (Mekai Curtis), Juke received a suitcase of money and the letter, telling her that the only person she should trust is Flossie.

Power: Origins will continue to explore the “Power” Universe “in fresh and compelling ways,” the network touts, while delving into the origin story of fan-favorite characters Ghost, Tommy and Kanan. The trio is ambitious young entrepreneurs on the rise, determined to make their mark on the streets of New York City. 

Starz calls Origins “a fun, rambunctious exploration of a new time period in the ‘Power’ franchise that the latest prequel series will highlight the unbridled audacity of young men on the rise, determined to become legends in the game.”

Production on Season 1, which took place in New York and New Jersey, has been completed.

Power: Origins is the fourth spinoff in the “Power” Universe, preceded by Power Book II: Ghost, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, and Power Book IV: Force. A fifth spinoff, Power: Legacy, set in the present timeline that will follow the events of Power Book IV: Force, was also recently greenlit at Starz.

Power: Origins is created by Courtney A. Kemp and Sascha Penn. Penn serves as showrunner and executive producer of the series, from a pilot co-written by Penn and Kemp. The “Power” Universe series is executive produced by Kemp, the creator and showrunner of the original Power, through her production company, End of Episode; Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, through G-Unit Film and Television; and Mark Canton, through Canton Entertainment. Also executive producing are Chris Selak; Kevin Fox; and Pete Chatmon, who also serves as a director. Lionsgate Television produces the series for Starz. 

Grossman will next be seen in the 13th Season of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series, American Horror Story. Her breakout TV role was as spoiled rich girl Mary Cherry on the WB’s Popular, and four seasons of What I Like About You. Additional TV credits include Hulu’s Love, Victor, ABC’s The Goldbergs, Prime Video’s Goliath, ABC’s Black-ish, and Showtime’s Dexter. Grossman is represented by Innovative Artists and Brillstein Entertainment Partners. 

A tray of bloody oysters, served during the middle of an international crisis, was the key to unlocking relationships that changed the dynamic of The Diplomat.

In the scene, two couples are ruminating on the events of the day, including the President of the United States debating whether to tell the British Prime Minister that she was responsible for a major attack on one of its aircraft carriers, as well as dealing with issues in their own marriages.

These are not, however, two ordinary couples: there’s President Grace Penn, played by Allison Janney, and her husband Todd, played by Bradley Whitford, and Vice President Hal Wyler, played by Rufus Sewell, who is married to Keri Russell’s Kate Wyler, who also happens to be the Ambassador to the UK.

Creator and showrunner Debora Cahn said the scene, which appears in “Amagansett”, the sixth episode of the third season of the Netflix political thriller, helped her shape the fourth season, which returns on October 15.

“The oyster scene, in a way, was the proving ground for what then became a real spine for season four, which is how are these couples relating to each other and dealing with the same set of circumstances very differently? It’s such a fun, delicious little scene,” Cahn told Deadline as part of The Backstory series.

The scene starts with the Penns arguing as they enter the room and the Wylers discussing the British situation before Todd cuts himself shucking oysters. The Shinnecocks are then brought out, but they have blood on them.

“I just gave a fucking tone poem to the bivalve,” Todd says before realizing the bloody mistake.

Some 425 local fresh oysters and 72 impoysters were used during the scene.

“He’s not a full-on method actor, but there are certain things, like he’s definitely eating all the oysters and wasn’t going to spit them out after,” said Cahn.

“I’m the kind of actor when I’m off camera, I’m going to eat the oyster,” joked Whitford. “My favorite thing is writing that combines the most serious and the silliest.”

“The sound of them schlooping into the garbage was such an important thing,” added Cahn. “The amount of money that got schlooped into that garbage, there are so many oysters on that tray, the waste. [Todd] keeps talking earlier in the episode about how Grace hates waste.”

The foursome then sit down where President Penn opens a bag of pretzels and squishes the empty bag behind the side of the sofa.

“One of my favorite prop moments is with the pretzel bag. I’m not going to go back to the kitchen. I’m like going to ball it up. I thought of something I think I’ve seen my mother do, I was just shoving it behind the pillow,” said Janney.

Whitford called it “Hall of Fame of prop work”.

Rufus Sewell added, “She’s the President of the United States, but she’s also a person with an empty pretzel bag in her hand, and it’s the empty pretzel bag in the hand, and the dramatic contrast between that and the position and the uniform and the status as perceived, that’s where the show lives.”

It’s scenes like this that helped The Diplomat receive seven Emmy nominations. Russell, Janney, Whitford and Sewell were all nominated and the series also picked up a nod in the Outstanding Drama Series category.

The oysters and the pretzels are amusing moments, but the real tension comes as the group are just sitting and talking. It’s clear that Todd is an intelligent and successful man, but he’s not involved in the administration and Kate Wyler is on the outside as ambassador.

“Writing two roles that are both juicy and delicious in one scene is not so difficult. Writing four in one scene is a lot. It’s a lot, and wanting to make it kind of equally substantive for everybody in the room is a thing,” Cahn said. “I came from theater… and am always just looking for opportunities to be doing theater in a television show, and it’s not an easy thing to do. Most scenes on TV shows are two pages, three pages, maybe a page and a half. To put four characters in a room for nine pages is not common.”

“When I read it, I just it felt very much like a play, and I thought this is going to be so much fun to act with Carrie and Rufus and Brad, and the fact that this is the first time you’re seeing these couples as outside of their environment, outside of their you know political operativeness,” said Janney.

“You live for writing like this. It was like a scene out of Virginia Woolf,” added Whitford. “We’re human beings here, terribly awkward human beings in complicated relationships without the sort of armor of our roles.”

There are other things at play as well; Todd is clearly jealous of his wife’s relationship with her Vice President and Kate Wyler is aware that her husband has a certain charm. This is also where we begin Season 4, which sees Janney and Whitford promoted to series regulars and the group handles the fallout of the carrier attack.

“Not many things are tied up with a neat little bow, said Sewell. “Things continue to iterate out, and it’s certainly the case for Season 4 that there’s even more of that. It gets even more complex.”