Person
John Howard Davies
London, England, UK
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 scriptwr…
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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
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
- 2025
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2010
All About The Good Life
Movie
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2009
Not Again: Not the Nine O'Clock News
Movie Self
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2009
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
Movie Self – Series Director
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2007
What the Pythons Did Next...
Movie Self
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1995
Mr. Bean: Torvill and Bean
Movie Director
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1991
The Exciting Escapades of Mr. Bean
Movie Producer
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1991
Hope It Rains
TV show Director
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1990
Dors: The Other Diana
Movie
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1990
No Job for a Lady
TV show Director
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1990
Mr. Bean
TV show Director
-
1988
Andy Capp
TV show Producer
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1988
After Henry
TV show Executive Producer
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1987
The Ruth Rendell Mysteries
TV show Director
-
1987
Bloody New Year
Movie Assistant Director
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1986
Executive Stress
TV show Director
More credits
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1986
The Paul McCartney Special
Movie Director
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1985
All in Good Faith
TV show Director
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1984
The Bill
TV show Director
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1984
Kim
Movie Director
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1984
Mr. Palfrey of Westminster
TV show Director
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1983
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
Movie Director
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1983
A Married Man
TV show Producer
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1979
Tales of the Unexpected: Lamb to the Slaughter
Movie Director
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1979
Tales of the Unexpected
TV show Director
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1977
The Other One
TV show Director
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1977
Raffles
TV show Director
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1976
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
TV show Director
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1975
Fawlty Towers
TV show Director
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1975
The Good Life
TV show Producer
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1973
Whoops Baghdad
TV show Producer
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1971
It's Awfully Bad for Your Eyes, Darling
TV show Producer
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1969
Monty Python's Flying Circus
TV show Director
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1968
The World of Beachcomber
TV show Director
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1967
Misleading Cases
TV show Producer
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1967
All Gas and Gaiters
TV show Director
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1962
Steptoe and Son
TV show Director
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1961
Comedy Playhouse
TV show Director
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1958
The Adventures of William Tell
TV show Karl
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1956
About Religion
TV show
