# Yardie (2018 film)
**Yardie** is a 2018 British crime drama directed by [Idris Elba](https://www.edgepedia.org/idris-elba) in his feature directorial debut, adapted from Victor Headley's 1992 novel of the same name. It follows D ([Aml Ameen](https://www.edgepedia.org/aml-ameen)), a young Jamaican courier sent to London in the early 1980s to deliver cocaine for the Kingston crime boss King Fox, who then encounters the man who assassinated his brother a decade earlier.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5862902/) • [2](https://warpfilms.com/feature/yardie/) The film premiered at the 2018 [Sundance Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/sundance-film-festival) and received a limited United States theatrical release in March 2019.[3](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/yardie) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/yardie)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director | Idris Elba, his feature film directorial debut[2](https://warpfilms.com/feature/yardie/) |
| Source | Victor Headley's 1992 cult crime novel *Yardie*[5](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-mini-yardie-review-20190314-story.html) |
| Premiere | World premiere, Sundance Film Festival 2018, World Cinema Dramatic Competition[3](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/yardie) |
| Running time | 101 minutes[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/57daebda-ff45-5e6a-8ed6-875fea889d66/yardie) |
| Production | Warp Films, financed by StudioCanal, BFI, BBC Films, and Screen Yorkshire[2](https://warpfilms.com/feature/yardie/) |
| Principal cast | Aml Ameen (D), Shantol Jackson (Yvonne), Stephen Graham (Rico), Sheldon Shepherd (King Fox), Fraser James (Piper)[2](https://warpfilms.com/feature/yardie/) |
| US release | March 15, 2019, limited, distributed by Rialto Pictures; US gross $35.6K[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/yardie) |
| Reception | 53% on the Tomatometer (76 reviews); Metascore 52[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/yardie) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/yardie/critic-reviews/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and setting
The story opens in [Kingston, Jamaica](https://www.edgepedia.org/kingston-jamaica), in 1973, where a young boy witnesses the assassination of his older brother, Jerry Dread (Everaldo Creary), who is shot while hosting a street party to broker peace between two rival gangs. A powerful don gives the boy a home. Ten years later, the grown D is sent on a mission to London, where he reunites with his girlfriend Yvonne and their daughter, but his past catches up with him.[3](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/yardie) • [8](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/22/yardie-review-idris-elbas-directorial-debut-is-an-uneven-disappointment)
In London, D arrives in 1983 to deliver cocaine for King Fox (Sheldon Shepherd), a music producer and drug lord who acts as his father figure. The deal goes south, and D becomes entwined in the city's underground drug and music worlds while seeking justice against his brother's killer.[5](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-mini-yardie-review-20190314-story.html) • [2](https://warpfilms.com/feature/yardie/) The film is set in 1970s Kingston and 1980s Hackney, a London neighborhood with a large Jamaican community, and centers on the intertwined worlds of Jamaican narcotics syndicates and the music industry.[9](https://www.rialtopictures.com/catalogue/yardie)
The title term refers to Jamaican expatriates in London in the 1970s; within the story, D is described as a Jamaican gang member, or "yardie".[10](https://2018.bff.palace.pipelabs.dev/films/yardie) • [5](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-mini-yardie-review-20190314-story.html)
## Production
StudioCanal announced on 16 May 2017 that principal photography had begun on the adaptation, with shooting on location in London and Jamaica for seven weeks. Elba, a Golden Globe and SAG award winner known for *Beasts of No Nation* and *[Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom](https://www.edgepedia.org/mandela-long-walk-to-freedom)*, directed and also took the role of Piper.[2](https://warpfilms.com/feature/yardie/)
The screenplay was adapted by Brock Norman Brock (*[Bronson](https://www.edgepedia.org/bronson-film)*) and Martin Stellman (*Babylon*, *Quadrophenia*). Robin Gutch (*'71*, *Hunger*) and Gina Carter produced for Warp Films. Universal Music partnered on the film, with its [Island Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/island-records) label releasing the soundtrack. Executive producers were Dan MacRae and Danny Perkins for StudioCanal, Mary Burke and Ben Roberts for the BFI, Joe Oppenheimer for BBC Films, Hugo Heppell for Screen Yorkshire, Mark Herbert for Warp Films, and Elba.[2](https://warpfilms.com/feature/yardie/)
The crew included cinematographer [John Conroy](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-conroy), editor Justine Wright, composer Dickon Hinchliffe, and production designer Damien Creagh.[3](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/yardie) Some location work took place at The Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent.[11](https://kentfilmoffice.co.uk/filmed-in-kent/2018/08/yardie-2018/) The film keeps its patois dialogue; the Guardian's review noted it "admirably shunning subtitles", while the US theatrical version carried English subtitles to clarify the Jamaican and British dialects.[12](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/02/yardie-idris-elba-review-plodding-gangster-action) • [5](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-mini-yardie-review-20190314-story.html)
## Release and festival run
*Yardie* had its world premiere in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was also an Official Selection in the Panorama section of the 2018 [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival).[3](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/yardie) • [13](https://2018.bff.palace.pipelabs.dev/sites/default/files/MINI-British-Film-Festival-2018-Web-Program.pdf) Rialto Pictures acquired the film for US distribution and released it in theaters on March 15, 2019.[14](https://www.thewrap.com/idris-elbas-directorial-debut-yardie-acquired-by-rialto-pictures/) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/yardie)
## Reception
Critical response was mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 53% Tomatometer from 76 reviews, with the site's critics consensus stating that the film "proves debuting director Idris Elba has a distinctive eye that benefits from a strong personal connection to his material, even if the end results are somewhat uneven"; the audience Popcornmeter stood at 54%.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/yardie) Metacritic assigned a Metascore of 52, labeled "Mixed or Average", based on 18 critic reviews.[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/yardie/critic-reviews/)
Reviewers repeatedly singled out the film's atmosphere, music, and period detail while criticizing its plotting. The Los Angeles Times wrote that the script "loses its way" once D reaches London, with freeze frames, voice-over, and stalled momentum undercutting the film's potential.[5](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-mini-yardie-review-20190314-story.html) The Guardian's first Sundance review called it "an uneven disappointment" with a plodding narrative, while praising the dance-party prologue and Sheldon Shepherd's presence as King Fox.[8](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/22/yardie-review-idris-elbas-directorial-debut-is-an-uneven-disappointment) A second Guardian review credited Elba, a Hackney native, with capturing the period details of early 1980s London and the mythic color of the Jamaica-set prologue.[12](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/02/yardie-idris-elba-review-plodding-gangster-action) Screen's chief film critic Fionnuala Halligan called it "an alluring, muscular debut soaked in authenticity in both its settings" and a period story of black Britain "when so few exist".[15](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/yardie-review/5125659.article) The Washington Post highlighted "the distinctive world he creates, in the rhythm of the music, in the raw, gritty poetry of the language, and in the powerful mythology it mines".[9](https://www.rialtopictures.com/catalogue/yardie)
## Awards
The film received two wins and six nominations. It was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, World Cinema Dramatic, at Sundance 2018 and for the C.I.C.A.E. Award in the Panorama section at Berlin 2018. It won a Golden Trailer Award for Best Foreign Teaser in 2018, was nominated for Outstanding Independent Feature and Outstanding Emerging Director (Elba) at the 2019 Black Reel Awards, and won the 2019 National Film Award (UK) for Best Drama, with additional nominations for Aml Ameen as Best Actor and Fraser James for Best Breakthrough Performance.[16](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5862902/awards/)
## References
1. [Yardie (2018), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5862902/)
2. [Yardie, Warp Films](https://warpfilms.com/feature/yardie/)
3. [Yardie, British Council UK Films Database](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/yardie)
4. [Yardie, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/yardie)
5. [Gary Goldstein, "Idris Elba's crime saga 'Yardie' is undone by a flawed script", Los Angeles Times, March 14, 2019](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-mini-yardie-review-20190314-story.html)
6. [Yardie (2018), BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/57daebda-ff45-5e6a-8ed6-875fea889d66/yardie)
7. [Yardie critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/yardie/critic-reviews/)
8. [Jordan Hoffman, "Yardie review", The Guardian, January 22, 2018](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/22/yardie-review-idris-elbas-directorial-debut-is-an-uneven-disappointment)
9. [Yardie, Rialto Pictures catalogue](https://www.rialtopictures.com/catalogue/yardie)
10. [Yardie, MINI British Film Festival 2018](https://2018.bff.palace.pipelabs.dev/films/yardie)
11. [Yardie (2018), Kent Film Office](https://kentfilmoffice.co.uk/filmed-in-kent/2018/08/yardie-2018/)
12. [Simran Hans, "Yardie review", The Guardian, September 2, 2018](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/02/yardie-idris-elba-review-plodding-gangster-action)
13. [MINI British Film Festival 2018 program](https://2018.bff.palace.pipelabs.dev/sites/default/files/MINI-British-Film-Festival-2018-Web-Program.pdf)
14. ["Idris Elba's Directorial Debut 'Yardie' Acquired by Rialto Pictures", TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/idris-elbas-directorial-debut-yardie-acquired-by-rialto-pictures/)
15. [Fionnuala Halligan, "'Yardie': Review", Screen Daily, January 21, 2018](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/yardie-review/5125659.article)
16. [Yardie (2018) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5862902/awards/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2015–2019 films › Crime drama and neo-noir films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license