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 Screen or Screens may refer to: Arts * Screen printing (also called ''silkscreening''), a method of printing * Big screen, a nickname associated with the motion picture industry * Split screen (filmmaking), a film composition paradigm in which mul ...

''. 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, chairman of BAFTA, and chairman of the

Directors Guild of Great Britain The Directors Guild of Great Britain (DGGB) was a professional organization that represented directors across all media, including film, television, theatre, radio, opera, commercials, music videos, corporate film/video and training, documentaries, ...

Early life and education

James Cellan Jones was born in 1931 in Swansea,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, 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 ...

, and Charterhouse School in Surrey. From a family of physicians, he studied natural sciences at St John's College, Cambridge, 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 BBC Television 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 the ...

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 ''The Adams Chronicles'' is a thirteen-episode miniseries by PBS that aired in 1976 to commemorate the American Bicentennial. Synopsis The series chronicles the story of the Adams political family over a 150-year span, including John Adams (dra ...

'' (1976), about the American Adams political family. 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

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 ...

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

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 The Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series is one of the annual Directors Guild of America Awards given by the Directors Guild of America. It was first presented at the 24th Directors Guild of ...

, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. For ''

'' (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 The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in Am ...

in 1987 for Best Dramatic Series for his anthology series ''

Oxbridge Blues ''Oxbridge Blues'' is a 1984 British television series, produced and broadcast in the UK by the BBC. It is an anthology of seven approximately 75-minute television plays by Frederic Raphael, most of which focus on relationships of one kind or ano ...

'', first transmitted in the UK in late 1984. His television film ''

'' (1993) won the prestigious

Golden Nymph 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, introdu ...

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, intro ...

. Cellan Jones received seven BAFTA TV nominations, for '' Roads to Freedom'' (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 f ...

award for Best Comedy in 1982; ''

'' (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 Simon Cellan Jones (born January 1963) is a British television director and film director. Career Simon Cellan Jones began his career as a production assistant in the mid-1980s, working on series such as ''Edge of Darkness''. By the late 1980s he ...

, 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 i ...

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'' (f ...

''. 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 seduce ...

'' (TV series, 1964, 4 episodes) * ''

The Ambassadors ''The Ambassadors'' is a 1903 novel by Henry James, originally published as a serial in the ''North American Review'' (NAR). The novel is a dark comedy which follows the trip of protagonist Lewis Lambert Strether to Europe to bring the son o ...

'' (TV movie, 1965) * '' The Scarlet and the Black'' (TV miniseries, 1965) * ''An Enemy of the State'' (TV miniseries, 1965) * ''

The Hunchback of Notre Dame ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story ...

'' (TV miniseries, 1966) * '' Quick Before They Catch Us'' (TV series, 4 episodes, 1966) * ''

'' (TV miniseries, 1967) * ''

Z Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debut ...

'' (2 episodes, 1967) * ''Albinos in Black'' (''

Theatre 625 ''Theatre 625'' is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production a ...

'', 1968) * '' The Portrait of a Lady'' (TV miniseries, 1968) * ''Detective'' (TV series, 2 episodes, 1968) * ''

The Way We Live Now ''The Way We Live Now'' is a satirical novel by Anthony Trollope, published in London in 1875 after first appearing in serialised form. It is one of the last significant Victorian novels to have been published in monthly parts. The novel is ...

'' (TV movie, 1969) * ''Solo'' (TV serial, 2 episodes 1970: "''

Little Gidding Little Gidding is a small village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. It lies approximately northwest of Huntingdon, near Sawtry, within Huntingdonshire, which is a district of Cambridgeshire as well as a historic county. A small p ...

''", "A Selection from E.E. Cummings") * ''

W. Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

'' (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'', 1971) * '' Eyeless in Gaza'' (TV miniseries, 1971) * '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (''

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 ''The Golden Bowl'' is a 1904 novel by Henry James. Set in England, this complex, intense study of marriage and adultery completes what some critics have called the "major phase" of James's career. ''The Golden Bowl'' explores the tangle of int ...

'' (TV miniseries, 1972) * ''The Edwardians'' (TV miniseries, 1972–1973) * '' Bequest to the Nation'' aka ''

The Nelson Affair ''Bequest to the Nation'' is a 1973 British historical drama film directed by James Cellan Jones and starring Glenda Jackson, Peter Finch, Michael Jayston and Margaret Leighton. It is based on the 1970 Terence Rattigan play ''A Bequest to the N ...

'' (1973) * ''Away from It All'' (TV anthology, one episode: "A Work of Genius", 1973) * ''

Secrets Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

'' (TV movie, 1973) * '' Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill'' (TV miniseries, 1974) * ''

'' (TV miniseries, 1976) * '' Caesar and Cleopatra'' ('' Hallmark Hall of Fame'', 1976) * ''The Madness'' (TV movie, 1976) * ''Sea Change'' (''Centre Play: Showcase'', 1976) * ''

'' (''

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

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

'', 1978) * ''A Touch of the Tiny Hacketts'' ('' Play for Today'', 1978) * ''School Play'' (''BBC2 Playhouse'', 1979) * '' The Day Christ Died'' (TV movie, 1980) * ''C2 H5 OH'' ('' Play for Today'', 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'', 1983) * ''

'' (TV anthology, 4 episodes, 1984) * ''

Slip-Up ''Slip-Up'' is a 1986 British television film directed by James Cellan Jones and starring Jeremy Kemp, George Costigan and Larry Lamb.Singer p.577 the film recounts the unsuccessful attempts of Jack Slipper to extradite the Great Train Robber Ron ...

'' (TV movie, 1986) * '' Fortunes of War'' (TV miniseries, 1987) * '' Arms and the Man'' (''

Theatre Night ''Theatre Night'' is the umbrella title under which adaptations of classic and contemporary stage plays were usually broadcast on BBC 2 between 15 September 1985 and 21 July 1990. List of episodes The main source for compiling this list was th ...

'', 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 o ...

'' (TV series, 5 episodes, 1989–1999) * '' A Little Piece of Sunshine'' (TV movie, 1990) * ''

A Perfect Hero ''A Perfect Hero'' is a 1991 TV drama serial set in World War II England. It was produced by Havahall Pictures in association with LWT for ITV and first broadcast at 9:00pm on Friday 17 May 1991 and ran for six episodes. It was broadcast in th ...

'' (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 b ...

'' (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 Scene (from Greek σκηνή ''skēnḗ'') may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Scene (subculture), a youth subculture from the early 2000s characterized by a distinct music and style. Groups and performers * The Scene who reco ...

'' (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 s ...

'' (TV series, 2 episodes, 1994) * ''La musique de l'amour: Chouchou'' (TV movie, 1995) * '' The Vacillations of Poppy Carew'' (TV movie, 1995) * '' McLibel'' (TV miniseries, 1997) * ''

Ruth Rendell Mysteries ''The Ruth Rendell Mysteries'' is a British television crime drama series, produced by TVS and later by its successor Meridian Broadcasting, in association with Blue Heaven Productions, for broadcast on the ITV network. Twelve series were bro ...

'' (TV series, 2 episodes, 1997) * '' Holby City'' (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 (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

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 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 (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

October 2010
Obituary
at ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

''
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