Biography

Alan James William Bell was a British television director/producer, best known for his 29-year long stint at the helm of BBC's popular sitcom Last of the Summer Wine (1973). Alan was the son of James Bell, a London Electricity Board cashier, and his wife Agnes, who worked as a dressmaker. After finishing high school, Alan worked as a projectionist in Leven, a seaside town in Fife, Scotland. In 1958, he joined the BBC as a film editor, eventually working his way up to production assistant and assistant floor manager. He made his directing debut in 1968. Early successes included 27 episodes of the children's variety show Crackerjack! (1955), broadcast to a live audience. He later produced and directed six instalments of Douglas Adams's The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981). In 1980, he won a TV BAFTA for Best Light Entertainment Programme as director of two hilarious episodes of Michael Palin's brilliant satire Ripping Yarns (1976). Later, he directed and produced the BBC sitcom The Hello Goodbye Man (1984) which starred Ian Lavender as a hapless pharmaceutical salesman. Alan retired in 2014 and died on October 19 2023, aged 85.

- IMDb mini biography by: I.S.Mowis