---
name: "John Howard Davies"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/john-howard-davies"
fi1m_id: "john-howard-davies"
imdb_id: "nm0203791"
tmdb_id: 67616
wikidata_id: "Q772224"
roles: ["Director","Producer"]
born: "9 March 1939"
died: "22 August 2011"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 6
average_fi1m_score: 84
average_as: "director"
average_over: 6
updated: "2026-10-07T12:03:54.527675+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# John Howard Davies

## Identity

John Howard Davies

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/john-howard-davies
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** john-howard-davies
- **IMDb ID:** nm0203791
- **TMDB ID:** 67616
- **Wikidata ID:** Q772224
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Howard_Davies, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q772224, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0203791/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/67616

Director and producer. Born 9 March 1939 in London, England, UK. Died 22 August 2011.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Producer
- **Born:** 9 March 1939, London, England, UK
- **Died:** 22 August 2011
- **Active:** 1962–1990
- **Also known as:** Джон Хауард Дэвис, Джон Хоуард Дэвис, Джон Говард Дэвис
- **Frequently works with:** [Douglas Argent](https://film.one/person/douglas-argent.md), [John Cleese](https://film.one/person/john-cleese.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 84, as director, over 6 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1960s 83 (2), 1970s 86 (3), 1990s 82 (1)
- **Score spread:** 6 at 80+, 0 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Comedy 6
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Howard_Davies, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q772224, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0203791/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/67616

## Streaming the US now

- **BritBox:** [*Fawlty Towers*](https://film.one/tv/fawlty-towers.md) (90), [*Mr. Bean*](https://film.one/tv/mr-bean.md) (82)
- **Peacock:** [*Monty Python's Flying Circus*](https://film.one/tv/monty-pythons-flying-circus.md) (83)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on John Howard Davies

> John Howard Davies’s comedy direction gives performers room without letting a scene drift. We rate his work on *Fawlty Towers* especially highly: the situations stay clear, the supporting players matter, and the embarrassment has time to grow.

Watch the people around John Cleese in *Fawlty Towers* (1975): they have time to register annoyance or embarrassment while he holds our attention. John Howard Davies directed the first series, and our admiration begins with that care for the whole cast. We can follow the situation, which makes the prospect of Basil interfering with it funnier and more alarming. The writing by Cleese and Connie Booth is precise, and Davies gives the performers room to make it work.

Davies’s wider contribution to comedy came through producing as well as directing. He produced and directed the first four episodes of *Monty Python’s Flying Circus* (1969), and defended the programme within the BBC. He also produced the whole run of *The Good Life* (1975–78), while his later work at Thames Television included producing *Mr. Bean* (1990). That is a substantial contribution to television comedy, but a producer’s credit cannot tell us who made an individual joke work. *Fawlty Towers* gives us firmer grounds for judging his handling of performers.

Davies shares the directing credit on the programme with Bob Spiers, and the finished comedy also depends on the cutting. Editors Susan Imrie, Bob Rymer and Bill Harris preserve the little waits before reactions, giving the staging time to pay off. Davies also contributed the changing hotel sign, a small visual joke that shows an interest in more than the spoken line. The cutting does not hustle everyone towards a punchline, so embarrassment can register before the next line arrives.

We sometimes wished a joke would stop earlier in *Fawlty Towers*, because the treatment of Andrew Sachs’s Manuel made us uncomfortable. The supporting cast’s precision does not make that discomfort disappear. Some performers described Davies’s directing style as strict or schoolmasterly, a useful caution against assuming that well-timed comedy must have been carefree to make. Start with the first series, and watch how much the people around Basil contribute before they say a word.

## Biography

John Howard Davies (1939–2011) was a British television director and producer. As a child actor he played the title role in David Lean's *Oliver Twist* (1948). He joined the BBC as a production assistant in the mid-1960s, becoming a producer in 1968, and specialised in comedy programming.

Davies directed and produced the first series of *Fawlty Towers* (1975) and directed the first four episodes of *Monty Python's Flying Circus* (1969). He produced the full run of *The Good Life* (1975–1978) and worked on *Mr. Bean* (1990). He was the BBC's Head of Comedy from 1977 to 1982 and later head of Light Entertainment, before moving to Thames Television.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, bbc.com, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (6)

- *Mr. Bean* (1990), Fi1m 82, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/mr-bean.md)
- *The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin* (1976), Fi1m 83, Director, Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-fall-and-rise-of-reginald-perrin.md)
- *Fawlty Towers* (1975), Fi1m 90, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/fawlty-towers.md)
- *The Good Life* (1975), Fi1m 85, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-good-life.md)
- *Monty Python's Flying Circus* (1969), Fi1m 83, Director, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/monty-pythons-flying-circus.md)
- *Steptoe and Son* (1962), Fi1m 83, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/steptoe-and-son.md)

## Complete filmography (41)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Good Life: Inside Out* (2025), Actor
- *All About The Good Life* (2010), Actor
- *Mr. Bean: Torvill and Bean* (1995), Director
- *The Exciting Escapades of Mr. Bean* (1991), Director, Producer
- *Hope It Rains* (1991), series, Director, Producer
- *Dors: The Other Diana* (1990), Actor
- *No Job for a Lady* (1990), series, Producer, Director, Creator
- *Mr. Bean* (1990), series, Producer, Director — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/mr-bean.md)
- *Andy Capp* (1988), series, Producer, Director
- *After Henry* (1988), series, Executive Producer
- *The Ruth Rendell Mysteries* (1987), series, Director
- *Bloody New Year* (1987), Assistant Director
- *Executive Stress* (1986), series, Producer, Director
- *The Paul McCartney Special* (1986), Director
- *All in Good Faith* (1985), series, Director, Creator
- *The Bill* (1984), series, Director
- *Kim* (1984), Director
- *Mr. Palfrey of Westminster* (1984), series, Director
- *The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin* (1983), Director, Producer
- *A Married Man* (1983), series, Producer
- *Tales of the Unexpected: Lamb to the Slaughter* (1979), Director
- *Tales of the Unexpected* (1979), series, Director
- *The Other One* (1977), series, Director
- *Raffles* (1977), series, Director
- *The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin* (1976), series, Producer, Director — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-fall-and-rise-of-reginald-perrin.md)
- *Fawlty Towers* (1975), series, Producer, Director — Fi1m 90, [page](https://film.one/tv/fawlty-towers.md)
- *The Good Life* (1975), series, Producer, Director — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-good-life.md)
- *Whoops Baghdad* (1973), series, Producer, Director, Creator
- *It's Awfully Bad for Your Eyes, Darling* (1971), series, Producer
- *Monty Python's Flying Circus* (1969), series, Director, Creator — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/monty-pythons-flying-circus.md)
- *The World of Beachcomber* (1968), series, Director, Creator
- *Misleading Cases* (1967), series, Producer, Director
- *All Gas and Gaiters* (1967), series, Director, Producer
- *Steptoe and Son* (1962), series, Director — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/steptoe-and-son.md)
- *Comedy Playhouse* (1961), series, Director
- *The Adventures of William Tell* (1958), series, as Karl, Bruno
- *About Religion* (1956), series, Actor
- *The Magic Box* (1952), as Maurice Friese-Greene
- *Tom Brown's Schooldays* (1951), as Tom Brown
- *The Rocking Horse Winner* (1949), as Paul Grahame
- *Oliver Twist* (1948), as Oliver Twist

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/john-howard-davies