Alan James William Bell (born 14 November 1937) is a British television producer and director. He was born in Battersea, London. He has produced or directed many BBC series since the early 1970s, most notably '' Last of the Summer Wine'', '' Ripping Yarns'' and the TV adaptation of '' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. He was also assigned to re-edit and improve Ronnie Barker's short 1982 film, '' By the Sea''. Other comedy shows include ''

There's a Lot of it About ''Q...'' is a surreal television comedy sketch show written by Spike Milligan and Neil Shand, and starring Spike Milligan with supporting players, usually including Julia Breck, John Bluthal, Bob Todd, and John Wells. The show ran from 1969 t ...

'', ''The Hello Goodbye Man'', '' The Clairvoyant'', '' Wyatt's Watchdogs'', ''Dogfood Dan and the Carmarthen Cowboy'' and ''

Split Ends Trichoptilosis (from the Greek language, Greek τριχο- ''tricho-'' "hair" and the New Latin ''ptilosis'' "arrangement of feathers in definite areas" from the Greek πτίλον "feather"), schizotrichia, and informally split ends, is the sp ...

''. In 1999 Bell directed the TV film '' Lost for Words''. The film was adapted from the autobiographical book of the same title by

Deric Longden Deric Francis Longden (29 November 1936 – 23 June 2013) was a British writer, autobiographer, reporter, public speaker and broadcaster. Life and career Early years Longden was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. He was the son of Frederick ...

. It was a sequel to Longden's earlier autobiographical film '' Wide-Eyed and Legless'' (known as ''The Wedding Gift'' in the USA). It dealt with Deric's mother Annie ( Thora Hird), her decline into dementia and how Deric ( Pete Postlethwaite) and his wife, partially-sighted novelist

Aileen Armitage Aileen Armitage (pen names Ruth Fabian, Erica Lindley, Aileen Quigley) is a British writer and author of more than thirty-five historical novels. She is partially-sighted and legally blind. Early life and education Armitage was born in Luton, Bed ...

( Penny Downie) coped with this. For her performance, Hird won the 2000 BAFTA for Best Actress, the 1999

RTS Award The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

for Best Actor - Female, as well as the 1999 National Television Award for Most Popular Actress. The film also won a 1999

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

and the 1999 International Emmy for Best Drama.59th Annual Peabody Awards
May 2000. Bell produced and directed 250 episodes of ''Last of the Summer Wine'' from 1981 until 2010 when the series ended.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Alan J. W. Living people 1937 births BBC television producers British television directors