Alan James Gwynne Cellan Jones (13 July 1931 – 30 August 2019) was a British television and film director. From 1963, he directed over 50 television series and films, specialising in dramas. He was particularly associated with the "Classic Serial" during the golden age of BBC drama,"James Cellan Jones and the Classic Serial"
'' Screen''. November 1969; Vol. 10, Issue 6: pp. 33-44. and some of his most significant work was in televising late 19th-century and 20th-century British literary works. Two of his most ambitious and successful directorial adaptations were the miniseries ''

The Forsyte Saga ''The Forsyte Saga'', first published under that title in 1922, is a series of three novels and two interludes published between 1906 and 1921 by the English author John Galsworthy, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. They chronicle the vici ...

'' (1967), which became a national and international hit, and '' Fortunes of War'' (1987); and he was also known for his award-winning productions of '' Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill'' (1974) and ''

Harnessing Peacocks ''Harnessing Peacocks'' is the third novel by Mary Wesley, published in 1985 when the author was 73 years old. In 1992 it was adapted for television. Plot summary As a baby, Hebe lost her parents in an air crash; her grandparents have brought ...

'' (1993). Cellan Jones was Head of Plays at

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced t ...

, chairman of BAFTA, and chairman of the Directors Guild of Great Britain.

Early life and education

James Cellan Jones was born in 1931 in Swansea,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, the son of surgeon Cecil Cellan-Jones and his wife Lavinia (née Dailey). James later dropped the hyphen in his surname. He was educated in England, attending the

Dragon School ("Reach for the Sun") , established = 1877 , closed = , type = Preparatory day and boarding school and Pre-Prep school , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Emma Goldsm ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

, and

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

in Surrey. From a family of physicians, he studied natural sciences at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. Th ...

, where he received his BA in 1952, later raised to an MA in 1978.

Career

Cellan Jones's true interest was acting and directing rather than medicine, however, and he began working at

in 1955 as a callboy, and rose steadily to become a production manager. In 1960 he began directing for the BBC, and by 1965 was directing several major productions a year. In 1967, he directed seven episodes of the award-winning 26-part adaptation of ''

'', which became a massive national and international hit; and his other period dramas included numerous adaptations of works by

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was th ...

and

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

. In the 1970s, he directed two notable historical biographical sagas: the award-winning miniseries '' Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill'' (1976), and the 13-episode miniseries '' The Adams Chronicles'' (1976), about the American

Adams political family The Adams family was a prominent political family in the United States from the late 18th through the early 20th centuries. Based in eastern Massachusetts, they formed part of the Boston Brahmin community. The family traces to Henry Adams of Bar ...

. From 1976 through 1979, Cellan Jones was Head of Plays at the BBC, where he was responsible for up to 85 productions a year. Upon leaving the post, he became a freelance television director, and continued to work steadily for 20 years. Highlights of this period include the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

miniseries '' Fortunes of War'' (1987) starring

Kenneth Branagh Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh (; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Branagh trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and has served as its president since 2015. He has won an Academy Award, four BAFTAs (plus t ...

and Emma Thompson, and the award-winning television film ''

'' (1993). Cellan Jones was chairman of BAFTA from 1983 to 1985. He was also chairman and honorary president of the Directors Guild of Great Britain.

Awards and nominations

For the miniseries ''Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill'' (1974), Cellan Jones won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series, and was nominated for a Primetime

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

. For '' The Adams Chronicles'' (1976) he was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series, and was nominated two years successively for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series. He received the CableACE Award in 1987 for Best Dramatic Series for his anthology series '' Oxbridge Blues'', first transmitted in the UK in late 1984. His television film ''

'' (1993) won the prestigious Golden Nymph award for Best Television Film at the

Monte-Carlo Television Festival The Monte-Carlo Television Festival is held every year in June in the Principality of Monaco at the Grimaldi Forum, under the Honorary Presidency of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco. The opening ceremony inaugurates each new edition, introd ...

. Cellan Jones received seven BAFTA TV nominations, for ''

Roads to Freedom ''The Roads to Freedom'' (french: Les chemins de la liberté) is a series of novels by French author Jean-Paul Sartre. Intended as a tetralogy, it was left incomplete, with only three of the planned four volumes published. The three published nov ...

'' (miniseries, 1970); '' Eyeless in Gaza'' (miniseries, 1971); '' Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill'' (miniseries, 1974); '' A Fine Romance'' (series, 1981, 1982), which won the

Broadcasting Press Guild The Broadcasting Press Guild (BPG) is a British association of journalists dedicated to the topic of general media issues. History The Guild was established in 1974 as a breakaway of The Critics' Circle. Currently it groups over 100 staff and fr ...

award for Best Comedy in 1982; '' Oxbridge Blues'' (anthology, eponymous episode, 1984); and '' Fortunes of War'' (miniseries, 1987).James Cellan Jones – Awards
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Personal life

Cellan Jones married television editor and production manager Margot Eavis in 1959, and they had two sons, Simon Cellan Jones, a director; and Deiniol Cellan Jones, a barrister who died in November 2013; and a daughter, Lavinia Cellan Jones. BBC journalist

Rory Cellan-Jones Nicholas Rory Cellan-Jones (born 17 January 1958; "Cellan" pronounced ) is a British journalist and a former BBC News technology correspondent. After working for the BBC for 40 years, he announced in August 2021 he was leaving the corporation ...

is also his son, by Sylvia Rich, a BBC secretary, prior to James' marriage to Margot Eavis.Cellan Jones, James.
Forsyte and Hindsight: Screen Directing for Pleasure and Profit
'. Kaleidoscope Publishing, 2006. pp. 14–15. He died following a stroke in August 2019."James Cellan Jones obituary"
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

''. 10 September 2019.

Selected filmography

*''

Esther Waters ''Esther Waters'' is a novel by George Moore first published in 1894. Overview Set in England from the early 1870s onward, the novel is about a pious young woman from a poor working-class family who, while working as a kitchen maid, is seduced ...

'' (TV series, 1964, 4 episodes) * '' The Ambassadors'' (TV movie, 1965) * '' The Scarlet and the Black'' (TV miniseries, 1965) * ''An Enemy of the State'' (TV miniseries, 1965) * '' The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (TV miniseries, 1966) * ''

Quick Before They Catch Us ''Quick Before They Catch Us'' was a 1966 British action/adventure children's television series. It starred then child actors Pamela Franklin, Teddy Green and David Griffin as three teenagers who become amateur detectives in Swinging Lo ...

'' (TV series, 4 episodes, 1966) * ''

'' (TV miniseries, 1967) * '' Z Cars'' (2 episodes, 1967) * ''Albinos in Black'' ('' Theatre 625'', 1968) * ''

The Portrait of a Lady ''The Portrait of a Lady'' is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in ''The Atlantic Monthly'' and '' Macmillan's Magazine'' in 1880–81 and then as a book in 1881. It is one of James's most popular novels and is regarded by cr ...

'' (TV miniseries, 1968) * ''Detective'' (TV series, 2 episodes, 1968) * '' The Way We Live Now'' (TV movie, 1969) * ''Solo'' (TV serial, 2 episodes 1970: "'' Little Gidding''", "A Selection from

E.E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings, who was also known as E. E. Cummings, e. e. cummings and e e cummings (October 14, 1894 - September 3, 1962), was an American poet, painter, essayist, author and playwright. He wrote approximately 2,900 poems, two autobi ...

") * '' W. Somerset Maugham'' (TV miniseries, 2 episodes, 1969–1970) * ''

The Roads to Freedom ''The Roads to Freedom'' (french: Les chemins de la liberté) is a series of novels by French author Jean-Paul Sartre. Intended as a tetralogy, it was left incomplete, with only three of the planned four volumes published. The three published nov ...

'' (TV miniseries, 1970) * ''The Piano'' (''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stag ...

'', 1971) * '' Eyeless in Gaza'' (TV miniseries, 1971) * ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict ...

'' (''

Play of the Month ''Play of the Month'' is a BBC television anthology series, which ran from 1965 to 1983 featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays (or adaptations) which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different wo ...

'', 1971) * '' The Golden Bowl'' (TV miniseries, 1972) * ''The Edwardians'' (TV miniseries, 1972–1973) * '' Bequest to the Nation'' aka '' The Nelson Affair'' (1973) * ''Away from It All'' (TV anthology, one episode: "A Work of Genius", 1973) * '' Secrets'' (TV movie, 1973) * '' Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill'' (TV miniseries, 1974) * '' The Adams Chronicles'' (TV miniseries, 1976) * '' Caesar and Cleopatra'' (''

Hallmark Hall of Fame ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'', originally called ''Hallmark Television Playhouse'', is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City-based greeting card company. The longest-running prime-time series in ...

'', 1976) * ''The Madness'' (TV movie, 1976) * ''Sea Change'' (''Centre Play: Showcase'', 1976) * '' The Ambassadors'' (''

'', 1977) * '' You Never Can Tell'' (''

'', 1977) * ''Kean'' (''

'', 1978) * ''A Touch of the Tiny Hacketts'' (''

'', 1978) * ''School Play'' (''BBC2 Playhouse'', 1979) * ''

The Day Christ Died ''The Day Christ Died'' is a 1980 American television film directed by James Cellan Jones. The collaborative production by 20th Century Fox and CBS-TV dramatizes the last 24 hours of Jesus Christ's life and is based on Jim Bishop's 1957 book of t ...

'' (TV movie, 1980) * ''C2 H5 OH'' (''

'', 1980) * ''Unity'' (''BBC2 Playhouse'', 1981) * '' A Fine Romance'' (TV series, 1981) * ''The Kingfisher'' (TV movie, 1983) * ''

The Comedy of Errors ''The Comedy of Errors'' is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play ...

'' (''

BBC Shakespeare The ''BBC Television Shakespeare'' is a series of British television adaptations of Shakespeare's plays, the plays of William Shakespeare, created by Cedric Messina and broadcast by BBC Television. Transmitted in the UK from 3 December 1978 to ...

'', 1983) * '' Oxbridge Blues'' (TV anthology, 4 episodes, 1984) * '' Slip-Up'' (TV movie, 1986) * '' Fortunes of War'' (TV miniseries, 1987) * '' Arms and the Man'' ('' Theatre Night'', 1989) * ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused on ...

'' (TV series, 5 episodes, 1989–1999) * '' A Little Piece of Sunshine'' (TV movie, 1990) * '' A Perfect Hero'' (TV miniseries, 1991) * ''The Gravy Train Goes East'' (TV miniseries, 1991) * ''

Maigret Jules Maigret (), or simply Maigret, is a fictional French police detective, a '' commissaire'' ("commissioner") of the Paris ''Brigade Criminelle'' ('' Direction Régionale de la Police Judiciaire de Paris:36, Quai des Orfèvres''), created by ...

'' (TV series, 3 episodes, 1992) * ''

Rumpole of the Bailey ''Rumpole of the Bailey'' is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, a middle-aged London barrister who defended a broad variety of clients, oft ...

'' (TV series, 1 episode, 1992) * '' Brighton Belles'' (TV series, 1 episode, 1993) * '' Scene'' (TV anthology; 1 episode, "Pig Boy", 1993) * ''

'' (TV movie, 1993) * ''

Class Act ''Class Act'' is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Randall Miller and starring hip-hop duo Kid 'n Play. An urban retelling of Mark Twain's ''The Prince and the Pauper'', the film was written by Cynthia Friedlob and John Semper from a st ...

'' (TV series, 2 episodes, 1994) * ''La musique de l'amour: Chouchou'' (TV movie, 1995) * ''

The Vacillations of Poppy Carew ''The Vacillations of Poppy Carew'' (1986) is a novel by Mary Wesley. The title refers to the protagonist's inability to choose in life. However, when Poppy Carew's boyfriend leaves her, and her father dies, she is forced to make a decision and ...

'' (TV movie, 1995) * '' McLibel'' (TV miniseries, 1997) * '' Ruth Rendell Mysteries'' (TV series, 2 episodes, 1997) * ''

Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' Casualty'', and ...

'' (TV series, 2 episodes, 2001)

Bibliography

* ''Heartsease'' (2014) *
Forsyte and Hindsight: Screen Directing for Pleasure and Profit
'. Kaleidoscope Publishing, 2006. * ''Novel on the Screen (W.D.Thomas Memorial Lecture)'' (1992)

Sources

* ''Who's Who in Entertainment''. Marquis Who's Who, Inc., 1989. Volume 1, p. 106.
"James Cellan Jones: Director." ''BFI Southbank: October 2010''.
pp. 18–19.

References

External links

*
James Cellan Jones
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

James Cellan Jones
in the ''Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors'' (2009)
James Cellan Jones
at Diamond Management
James Cellan Jones discusses his career
at the BFI October 2010
Obituary
at '' The Telegraph''
Obituary
at BAFTA {{DEFAULTSORT:Cellan Jones, James 1931 births 2019 deaths British television directors Welsh television directors People from Swansea Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge