David Nicholas Yip was born on the 4th of June 1951 to a Chinese father, a seaman from the Canton area of southern China. Loy Yip arrived there in 1941 having travelled from Guangzhou to Hong Kong as a teenager, where he earned his passage to Britain on the Blue Funnel Line. Loy then met his future wife Betty at a tea dance but, being an English woman who had chosen to marry a Chinese man, her family disowned her and cut her off. David was the third eldest of eight children, 7 boys and one girl, and had a working class upbringing born into a small terraced house on a cobbled back street, Duke Terrace, close to Liverpool’s Chinatown. After leaving school at 16, he worked as a shipping clerk for British Railways for 2 years, then at 18 he was offered a job as an assistant stage manager by Teresa Collard at the Neptune Theatre. He participated in local youth productions while working at the Everyman Theatre, including one under the direction of Barry Kyle when he was visiting the Liverpool Playhouse. Yip's peers encouraged him to audition for drama school and he he won a place at East 15 Acting School, London after hearing about the acting school while working at the Everyman whre he trained from 1971 to 1973. He said: "East 15 in the early 1970s was challenging and inspiring but the conditions were very basic to say the least. But it prepared us well for the profession we desired to enter."
Having began his career in theatre, David first appeared on television in an episode of the ITV game show 'Whodunnit' (1975) and the BBC television film 'Savages' (1975), followed by an episode of the BBC sitcom 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum' (1978). The following year he played Frank Chen in the science fiction mini series 'Quatermass (1979) and then as Veldan, one of the Dalek slave workers, in 2 episodes of 'Doctor Who' (1979) in 'Destiny of the Daleks'. However his big break came when, As Detective Sergeant John Ho, he became the first Chinese lead actor in any British television drama series, 'The Chinese Detective' (1981-82). In it he gave a wonderful performance as a British born Chinese detective sergeant in the police, facing prejudice from both his colleagues and the community. The series offered traditional police procedural storylines in a setting of occasional prejudice and distrust within the police force, and the prejudice displayed by those he encountered whilst doing his job. Like many other television detectives of the time, he was something of a maverick, often using unorthodox methods to solve crimes. He was a loner by necessity - none of his colleagues wanted anything to do with him. By portraying the racism endemic in the police force, the programme upset some senior officers, but did not appear to have taken particularly extreme liberties with the truth. Although it ran for just two series with a total of fourteen episodes, it made an impact, and is still well remembered. |
| In The Chinese Detective |
In a 2022 retrospective of 100 BBC gamechangers, the British Film Institute called David Yip's performance "pensive and affecting". After watching him in the series, director Steven Spielberg cast him in the opening scene of 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' (1984) as Jones' past companion Wu Han, marking David's feature film debut. This was followed by a supporting role as CIA liaison agent Chuck Lee in 'A View to a Kill' (1985) and a lead role as Mike Wong in the 1986 mystery comedy film 'Ping Pong'. Returning to TV his next major role was playing Michael Choì in 'Brookside' (1989), when a young, professional Chinese family, the Chois, arrived at the vacated No.7, appearing from May 1989. Widower Michael moved in with his young daughter Jessica and before long, he embarked on a relationship with a colleague, scientist Alison Gregory, played by Alyson Spiro.
He played Mr Kim in 3 episodes of 'Making Out' (1989-91), starred in the BBC sitcom 'Every Silver Lining' (1993) and appeared in the television adaptation of 'Wilde Justice' (1994). This was followed by small roles in the films 'Goodbye Hong Kong' (1994), 'Hamlet' (1996), 'Fast Food' (1998) and then 'Entrapment' (1999). Next he played Assad in the two-parter 'Arabian Nights'(2000), Merv in the film 'My Kingdom' (2001) and Dr Pang in 7 episodes of the CBBC series 'Oscar Charlie' (2002). David then returned to the stage in 2008 at the Hampstead Theatre, London in the British premiere of 'Turandot', Bertolt Brecht's final play that was written just before his death in 1956. David also wrote a play with Kevin Wong entitled 'Gold Mountain', based on his father's life; a 1,000-mile walk, barefoot, from a remote Cantonese village to Hong Kong, followed by six months on a merchant vessel that eventually landed in Liverpool, where he established a successful laundry business, then lost it all in a single hand of poker. It was intended for the Liverpool Capital of Culture 2008 event, but was delayed due to writing problems. It premiered on the 6th of October 2010, at the Unity Theatre, Liverpool and was performed again in 2012. In 2013 he joined the cast of feature film 'All That Remains' (2016) before reuniting with Gemma Chan from 'Turandot' in the play 'Yellow Face' at the Park Theatre and then the National Theatre. From 2017 to 2018, he returned to the National Theatre for 'The Great Wave', led the play 'Eastern Star' at the Tara Theatre, and played Hong Mankyo in the psychological thriller 'Fortitude' (2017-18). He also had a voice role as Grandpa in 26 episodes of the TV animated series 'Luo Bao Bei' (2018). He has starred more recently in the thriller film 'Break' (2020), 'Midsomer Murders' (2021), 'The Capture' (2022) and in 'Pennyworth' (2022).
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| At Edge Hill University |
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| At University of Essex |
Following a visit to Edge Hill in 2017 to talk about his wide ranging film, television and theatre work spanning four decades in 2022 he was awarded honorary doctorates by Edge Hill University and the University of Essex in recognition of his contribution to supporting the UK’s Chinese community through art.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2024/04/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians-sharon.html
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