Celebrity tributes have flooded in for the iconic award winning British director and producer Mike Vardy, who helped shape some of the nation's best loved shows including Z Cars, The Sweeney and The Bill following his death on February 28 at the age of 91. No cause of death has been revealed, but Televisual reported he slipped away peacefully at home in the arms of his wife of fifty-five years, Sandra Vardy - herself a respected vision mixer for London Weekend Television (LWT).
Over his four decade career, he became known as "the actor’s director". He began his working life on live variety shows before moving to documentaries and drama, working for both Thames TV and the BBC across a variety of shows from 1965 onwards. Over the years, his credits included some of the most popular crime and action dramas ever to grace UK television and for his efforts he was rewarded with multiple BAFTA wins and nominations.
His CV boasted episodes of Z Cars, Man on the Run, Callan, Special Branch, Shoestring, Enemy at the Door, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, Man at the Top, The Sweeney, Van der Valk, Rumpole of the Bailey, Minder, Taggart, and The Bill.
He also directed one feature film, 1973's Man at the Top, which starred Kenneth Haigh and Nanette Newman. It was also around this time he made the move into producing, with 1972's comedy show Spring & Autumn and 1981's drama series The House on the Hill.
Many of the stars whose lives and careers he touched waded in to pay tribute on learning the news.
Deadline reported acclaimed playwright and director Stephen Poliakoff called him a "very fine director with a remarkable range".
Harry Potter icon Jason Isaacs, who worked with Mike on the 1989 drama Capital City, paid a lengthy tribute to the star.
Recalling their meeting he said: "... was an overexcited idiot doing my first tv series and he was a veteran director with thirty years of experience over me, yet he did that immensely generous thing of pretending that my ideas were worth listening to (they weren’t) and that he didn’t know much more than me (he really did).
"Among his many creative gifts, the ability to make everyone feel valued and heard was something magical that I’ve rarely encountered since. A gentle, lovely man whose kindness I’ve never forgotten."
