Neil Bell

In 2016 he directed the biopic of Manchester band Joy Division called "New Dawn Fades" at the Dancehouse theater Manchester and in 2017 he directed a play entitled "Old Ground" which centred around the re-opening of the Moors Murders case in the mid 1980s. In 2018 he played the reformer Samuel Bamford in the film Peterloo, directed by Mike Leigh.

He also in 2007 directed a play at the Contact Theatre in Manchester, entitled "Fair".

In 2004 he wrote, directed and starred in a biographical play about the Salford born poet John Cooper Clarke called "36 Hours".

Bell studied drama at Oldham College and has played character roles in such TV series as Buried, Shameless, Murphy's Law, Ideal, City Lights, The Bill and Casualty, and the films 24 Hour Party People (2002) and Dead Man's Shoes (2004). He also had a small role in the acclaimed TV series State of Play, playing the colleague of Polly Walker's character. He has recently had a main role in The Bill playing the role of a killer. In 2010 he had a role in the ITV comedy-drama Married Single Other. He has appeared in Coronation Street,and in 2012, he had a regular role in Downton Abbey as Durrant. In 2013 he appeared in the first series of BBC2's Peaky Blinders as Publican Harry Fenton. In February 2016, he appeared in the BBC drama series Moving On.

Neil Bell (born 4 February 1970) is an English actor, mainly on UK TV and in occasional films.