Alan JW Bell, who has died aged 85 after suffering from dementia, relished producing and directing the BBC’s whimsical sitcom Last of the Summer Wine for 29 years. Taking over in 1982 for the sixth series, nine years after the show’s launch, he increasingly made a showcase of the lush West Yorkshire countryside around Holmfirth, and introduced more slapstick and madcap stunts.
Interviewed for Morris Bright and Robert Ross’s book 30 Years of Last of the Summer Wine (2000), Bell recalled: “The BBC had, it seems, recognised my filmic bent and astutely realised that the high proportion of location filming in each episode would not be a problem in my hands.”
