David Yip gives a standout performance as John Ho.
John Ho is a sort of British Chinese policeman in the style of Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry series or perhaps, even closer, to Steve Mcqueen's as Bullitt in the movie of the same name.
It's gritty and grimy and all the upper members of the force are against him but it plays realistic....not forced or overdone.
We feel sorry for him but know that it's due, to a large degree to his own failings and personality.
Aided by a cast of equally bleak and unhappy people the overall atmosphere of the movie is gray and negative....and it PERFECTLY suits the writing.
All in all a seriously under-rated movie and actor and I will search him out for other roles.
Make this one a do-see if realistic and grimy are what you sometimes like and leave the happy-ending crap to the Yanks.
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tsm-120 April 2005The Chinese Detective played by David Yip was a masterful study in understatement. I felt David Yips Performance was Superb even though I kept wanting him to (please forgive the stereotype)do some Kung Fu every time he was up against some villains. He was a real rounded British oriental professional and whats more he was a kick ass cop...The only thing and the reason perhaps that it wasn't renewed was that they (the writer/producer/director etc) didn't give (David Yip) an opportunity to have a harder edge otherwise we could have seen him develop into perhaps a more edgier (Kung Fu kickin'...oh I'm sorry there I go again)...Detective. It would be fantastic if they made a follow up or a sequel to the series (though they wouldn't call it the Chinese Detective perhaps something that hints at the central character being oriental and please make sure he gets to do some friggin Kung Fu or Muay thai or even a bit of Marquis of Queensbury!). In the Meantime release the old series on DVD...what are you waiting for do you know how many people Oriental, Caucasian or Afro Caribbean or otherwise that would wanna watch this seminal show...no obviously you don't...well wake up and make some money from your back catalogue...and please stick David Yip in the follow up or sequel series.
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glen_davis8 November 2007I grew up in the area where Chinese Detective was filmed and remember always straining to see David Yip in action, at that time on the Isle of Dogs there were no 'Yuppies' and Canary Wharf was disused Dockland.
I remember watching on TV some of my school friends who were lucky enough to be in the background playing football or suchlike as extras.
Aside from the nostalgia I remember it being a great show and would love it to be revived on DVD much the same way I would like to see Prospects starring Gary Olsen of 2 Point 4 Children on DVD.
This was another show based around docklands during the initial regeneration of the area by the LDDC a few years later. -
analoguebubblebath29 September 2018Downbeat and moody early '80s crime drama. Shot in London's grimy docklands, now regenerated. A snapshot of a long gone era. Great performance from David Yip and other assorted eastenders. The Chinese people he interacts with are predictably cruel, as was the style back then.Excellent and evocative
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noda15 January 2008I vaguely remember this show from growing up but would love to see it now. Was it a groundbreaking show? How was the main character's heritage handled and how did he interact with other characters around him? Is there any way of seeing the show again? If anybody does know it would be great to hear from you. Was the BBC really so ahead of its time with commissioning this show? After all in supposedly more tolerant and equal times there is a severe lack of Asian faces on the screen either on television or film. While it's great to see Asian American actors getting work surely there must be better than 'Balls of Fury'.
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flipdezz12 November 2023The Chinese Detective is among the best television series' I saw on British television during the fifteen years I resided in Briton. It was shot around the area of the abandoned London docks at the beginning of the 1980s and the production style is strictly "kitchen sink realism". The story doesn't hold back on the overt racism Detective Sergeant John Ho (played by David Yip) experiences from his police department colleagues and the narrative arc of Season One has a satisfying conclusion. This series captures an accurate and unglamorous view of the London criminal underworld of the early 1980s and David Yip's portrayal of the sympathetic main character is note perfect. It's a shame that the series only went to one more season.