John Howard Davies

John Howard Davies (born Paddington, London; 9 March 1939 — 22 August 2011) was a British television director, producer and former child actor. Davies was the son of the scriptwriter Jack Davies. His credits as a child actor include the title role in David Lean's Oliver Twist (1948), The Rocking Horse Winner (1949), Tom Brown's Schooldays (1951) and a few episodes of the television series William Tell (1958). After school at Haileybury, further education at Grenoble and National Service in the Royal Navy, he started working in the City in a finance company. After that, he trained as a carpet salesman but quit after six months to travel the world. Ending up in Australia he returned to acting and met his wife Leonie when they both appeared in The Sound of Music. Back in Britain, he tried selling oil to industry in Wembley and then became a production assistant in the BBC at the end of 1968. Davies is best known for his adult career as director and producer of several highly successful British sitcoms, including All Gas and Gaiters, Fawlty Towers (series 1), The Goodies, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, The Good Life, No Job for a Lady and Mr. Bean. Davies was also the producer and director of the sketch show The World of Beachcomber and the earliest episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus. He also directed several episodes of The Vicar of Dibley. He became the BBC's Head of Comedy from 1977-1982, then head of Light Entertainment and finally Controller Managing Director of EMI Television Productions and the Head of Light Entertainment at ITV broadcaster Thames Television. During the last role, he was cited by the popular press as the man who 'sacked' comedian Benny Hill when the station decided not to renew his contract after 20 years' service. Description above from the Wikipedia article John Howard Davies, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

Works

The Adventures of William Tell

The Adventures of William Tell is a British swashbuckler adventure series, first broadcast on the ITV network in 1958, and produced by ITC Entertainment.

Release Date1958-09-15

Charactersd Karl

Episode Count1

Vote Count3

Oliver Twist

When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin. When kindly Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill Sikes plots to kidnap the boy.

Release Date1948-06-28

Charactersd Oliver Twist

Vote Count239

The Magic Box

Now old, ill, poor, and largely forgotten, William Freise-Greene was once very different. As young and handsome William Green he changed his name to include his first wife's so that it sounded more impressive for the photographic portrait work he was so good at. But he was also an inventor and his search for a way to project moving pictures became an obsession that ultimately changed the life of all those he loved.

Release Date1952-01-01

Charactersd Maurice Friese-Greene

Vote Count21

Tom Brown's Schooldays

When Tom Brown arrives at Rugby boarding school, he’s mercilessly tormented by the school’s evil bully Flashman. With the help of his friend East, plucky Brown devises a plan to get back at Flashman; in the meantime, he’s asked to look out for a timid new student, whose life is accidentally put in peril during a school race.

Release Date1951-04-17

Charactersd Tom Brown

Vote Count8

The Rocking Horse Winner

A strange and tragic tale of a young boy who is able to predict race winners at the horse track by riding his own rocking horse to aid his parents out of their endless round of debts.

Release Date1949-11-30

Charactersd Paul Grahame

Vote Count23

Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened

30 years after Fawlty Towers (1975) ended, Stephen Fry narrates a documentary about the making of this classic sitcom.

Release Date2009-05-10

Charactersd Self – Series Director

Vote Count4

What the Pythons Did Next...

A look at the careers of John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam in the years after Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969).

Release Date2007-01-01

Charactersd Self

Not Again: Not the Nine O'Clock News

A look behind the scenes of satirical sketch show Not the Nine O'Clock News.

Release Date2009-12-28

Charactersd Self

Vote Count1

Mr. Bean

Mr Bean turns simple everyday tasks into chaotic situations and will leave you in stitches as he creates havoc wherever he goes.

Release Date1990-01-01

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count3

Vote Count1419

Monty Python's Flying Circus

A British sketch comedy series with the shows being composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines.

Release Date1969-10-05

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count4

Vote Count651

Tales of the Unexpected

A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars.

Release Date1979-03-24

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count45

The Edwardians

It was a time when England was a nation on the cusp of change, an evolving landscape tht lay between Victorian England and the First World War. 'The Edwardians' explores the lives of and events in the lives of many who helped define the era, the "Belle Epoque".

Release Date1972-11-21

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count8

Vote Count3

The Bill

The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.

Release Date1984-10-16

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count12

Vote Count40

The Good Life

Tom and Barbara Good escape the rat race and pursue a self-sufficient lifestyle in Surbiton, much to the concern, frustration and sometimes envy of their neighbours Margo and Jerry Leadbetter. Entitled ‘Good Neighbors’ when shown in the USA.

Release Date1975-04-04

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Episode Count28

Vote Count41

The Ruth Rendell Mysteries

The Ruth Rendell mysteries is a British television series made by TVS and Meridian Television for ITV between 2 August 1987 and 11 October 2000.

Release Date1987-08-02

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count4

Vote Count10

Fawlty Towers

Owner Basil Fawlty, his wife Sybil, a chambermaid Polly, and Spanish waiter Manuel attempt to run their hotel amidst farcical situations and an array of demanding guests.

Release Date1975-09-19

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Episode Count1

Vote Count731

Whoops Baghdad

Whoops Baghdad is a BBC television comedy programme first broadcast from 25 January to 1 March 1973. The series stars Frankie Howerd, and was similar to his earlier programme Up Pompeii!, with the setting moved from Ancient Rome to mediaeval Baghdad. However, it was significantly less successful than its predecessor, only running for six episodes and is little remembered, although all episodes survive. The original proposed title, Up Baghdad, was rejected because it was felt that it might have been seen as supportive of the then-current Iraqi regime.

Release Date1973-01-25

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Episode Count6

Vote Count1

Mr. Palfrey of Westminster

Mr. Palfrey is a mild-mannered, but highly skilled counter-espionage agent employed by a small, unnamed department within British intelligence. He and his team tackle complex cases, often involving government cover-ups and internal affairs.

Release Date1984-04-18

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count2

Vote Count2

Steptoe and Son

Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about a father and son played by Wilfred Brambell and Harry H. Corbett who deal in selling used items. They live on Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old Ned", was composed by Ron Grainer. The series was voted 15th in a 2004 BBC poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom. It was remade in the US as Sanford and Son, in Sweden as Albert & Herbert and in the Netherlands as Stiefbeen en zoon. In 1972 a movie adaptation of the series, Steptoe and Son, was released in cinemas, with a second Steptoe and Son Ride Again in 1973.

Release Date1962-01-05

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count5

Vote Count33

After Henry

After Henry is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1988 to 1992. Starring Prunella Scales and Joan Sanderson, it had started on BBC Radio 4 in 1985, finishing in 1989. It was written by Simon Brett. After Henry was made for the ITV network by Thames Television. The BBC was reluctant to produce After Henry for television, so in 1988 after the third radio series Thames Television did so. The show was surprisingly popular, attracting over 14 million viewers. A second television series was shown during the same months as the fourth radio series with, in many cases, both radio and television episodes being broadcast on the same nights. The fourth television series was broadcast from July 1992, after the death of Joan Sanderson, who had died on 24 May.

Release Date1988-01-04

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Episode Count39

Vote Count3

Comedy Playhouse

Comedy Playhouse is a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 120 episodes from 1961 to 1975. Many episodes later graduated to their own series, including Steptoe and Son, Till Death Us Do Part, All Gas and Gaiters, The Liver Birds, Are You Being Served? and Last of the Summer Wine, which is the world's longest running sitcom, having run from January 1973 to August 2010.

Release Date1961-12-15

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count4

Vote Count2

Hope It Rains

After the deaths of her parents, Jace moves in with her godfather Harry, who runs a waxwork museum in a seaside town. He hopes the weather will change for the worse to attract custom.

Release Date1991-06-03

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count13

Vote Count1

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin

Disillusioned after a long career at Sunshine Desserts, Perrin goes through a mid-life crisis and fakes his own death. Returning in disguise after various attempts at finding a 'new life', he gets his old job back and finds nothing has changed. He is eventually found out, and in the second series has success with a chain of shops selling useless junk. That becomes so successful that he feels he has created a monster and decides to destroy it. In the third and final series he has a dream of forming a commune which his long suffering colleagues help bring to reality. Unfortunately that also fails and he finds himself back in a job not unlike the one he originally had at Sunshine Desserts.

Release Date1976-09-08

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Episode Count28

Vote Count26

The World of Beachcomber

The World of Beachcomber was a surreal television comedy show produced by the BBC, inspired by the Beachcomber column in the Daily Express newspaper. The show, like the column, consisted of a series of unrelated pieces of humour. Links between the items were provided by Spike Milligan, dressed in a smoking jacket and cap, as in the cartoon logo above the newspaper column. The other actors were a Who's Who of British comedy of the time, encompassing almost every supporting player seen or heard in comedy, not excluding people of diminutive stature. In all, 19 episodes were produced beginning in 1968. Unfortunately, like many shows of the time, the original videotapes were wiped. Only one complete episode, on black and white 16mm film, now survives in the BBC archives, from the penultimate edition.

Release Date1968-01-22

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count19

No Job for a Lady

Jean Price is the newly elected, somewhat rebellious Labour MP for an inner-city constituency, and her life in the House of Commons. She's married to Geoff Price, a public defender and carer of many household chores so that Jean can pursue her new career. Jean balances her personal life with parliamentary duties, including 'women's issues', which Jean alternately fights for and is frustrated by, as other MPs think she cares about nothing else due to her gender. She often is surprised by others' duplicity and hypocrisy, holding them to a significantly higher standard.

Release Date1990-02-07

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Episode Count18

Vote Count3

All in Good Faith

British sitcom in which Reverend Philip Lambe, after becoming bored in his wealthy Oxfordshire parish, asks for a transfer to a more difficult assignment. Sent to Edendale, a fictional urban town in the Midlands, he is accompanied by his wife Emma, sixteen-year-old daughter Miranda and twelve-year-old son Peter.

Release Date1985-12-30

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count12

Vote Count67

Raffles

Raffles was a 1977 television adaptation of the A. J. Raffles stories by Ernest William Hornung. The series was produced by Yorkshire Television and written by Philip Mackie. The episodes were largely faithful adaptations of the stories in the books, though occasionally two stories would be merged to create one episode such as "The Gold Cup" which featured elements from both "A Jubilee Present" and "The Criminologist's Club".

Release Date1977-02-25

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count3

Vote Count3

Andy Capp

Andy Capp is a British sitcom based on the cartoon Andy Capp. It starred James Bolam and ran for one series in 1988. It was written by Keith Waterhouse. Unusually, for a sitcom, there was no studio audience during the filming of Andy Capp. It was made for the ITV network by Thames Television. Andy Capp is a slothful man from Hartlepool, whose life consists of drinking, sleeping, watching TV, betting, going to the pub and occasionally playing football. His wife, Flo, is constantly annoyed by her lazy husband and frequently uses a rolling pin as a weapon.

Release Date1988-02-22

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Episode Count6

Vote Count4

Executive Stress

Executive Stress is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1986 to 1988. Produced by Thames Television, it first aired on 20 October 1986. After three series, the last episode aired on 27 December 1988. Written by George Layton, Executive Stress stars Penelope Keith as Caroline Fairchild, a middle-aged woman who decides to go back to work. Her husband, Donald, is played by Geoffrey Palmer in the first series. However, Palmer was unable to return for the second series, so Peter Bowles played Donald in the last two series. Keith and Bowles had previously appeared in together in To the Manor Born.

Release Date1986-10-20

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Episode Count19

Vote Count3

The Other One

Two passengers meet in reception at Gatwick airport. Although unknown to each other, they find they are on the same flight and staying in the same hotel. Two characters as different as chalk and cheese have a series of misadventures on holiday in Spain.

Release Date1977-11-11

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count1

Bloody New Year

Six shipwrecked English teenagers take refuge in an island hotel that is decorated for New Years. The problem is, it's early summer, and soon enough, even the walls themselves are striking out against them…

Release Date1987-05-11

DepartmentDirecting

JobAssistant Director

Vote Count70

Kim

A friendly street kid in India, during the last years of the nineteenth century, looks and considers himself Indian, but is in fact a Brit. The Brits discover his true origin, and train him as a spy.

Release Date1984-05-16

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1

Tales of the Unexpected: Lamb to the Slaughter

An enraged detective's wife kills her husband by smashing in his skull with a heavy blunt instrument - but no murder weapon can be found, and the police are baffled.

Release Date1979-04-14

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

The Exciting Escapades of Mr. Bean

Rowan Atkinson stars in another comic creation; Mr Bean a mute oddball who trips in and out of chaos and mayhem including; 'The Curse of Mr Bean' and 'Mr Bean Goes to Town' plus the episode 'The Bus Stop'.

Release Date1991-09-04

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count12

The Paul McCartney Special

A program originally produced for the BBC, and aired on television several times in 1986. Originally conceived as a long-form promotional piece for «Press to Play», the BBC staffer (Richard Skinner) persuades Macca to talk about much more, including one of the more in-depth interviews about Wings. All of the interview bits were done at Abbey Road studio 2, leading to some reminiscing on Paul's part. Scattered among the interview are some nice McCartney film rarities (including rarely seen promo clips/videos, concert footage from both the 1973 and 1976 tours, and even a bit of the never released "One Hand Clapping" film).

Release Date1986-08-29

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Torvill and Bean

Mr. Bean takes his girlfriend to see Britain's famous ice skating duo Torvill and Dean perform in Manchester. But he accidentally injures Dean backstage and has to substitute as guest ice-skater with Torvill.

Release Date1995-03-17

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count2

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin

46-year-old Reginald Iolanthe Perrin is suffering a midlife crisis and tries to escape his dreary life.

Release Date1983-10-03

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Dors: The Other Diana

Documentary about the life and career of actress Diana Dors, Britain's own "Blonde Bombshell".

Release Date1990-05-08

All About The Good Life

What was it really like behind the scenes of The Good Life? With contributions from Richard Briers, Penelope Keith, Monty Don, Brian Sewell and John O'Farrell.

Release Date2010-12-29

About Religion

About Religion was a UK religious affairs programme on Associated Television (ATV) 1958–1965. It was usually hosted by interviewer Julian Grenfell, with David King and John Brooking. An anthology of interviews was published in 1963.

Release Date1956-01-08

Episode Count34