A tribute to Peter Jewell – 1934 – 2025 – Honorary Patron and Principal Donor of the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum

Peter Jewell, the Honorary Patron and founding donor of The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, has passed away at the age of 90.

Together Peter and his great friend, the renowned filmmaker Bill Douglas, put together an amazing collection of 50,000 artefacts on the history of cinema and the moving image.

After Bill’s death Peter gifted the collection to the University of Exeter to establish the museum because he wanted everyone to share their joy and fascination with moving pictures. He remained a very active donor, hugely invested in the museum and its success, until his death earlier this week after a short illness.

Peter and Bill, who met during National Service in Egypt, had an amazing and unique friendship, as shown in the recent documentary, Bill Douglas, My Best Friend.

Peter was immensely supportive of Bill’s work as a filmmaker and gave him the emotional strength he needed to navigate the stressful and frustrating world of the film industry. Although he played down his role, and had a successful career as a social worker, caring for elderly and disabled people in London, Peter made a significant contribution to the films as a script editor and researcher, particularly with Bill’s final epic about The Tolpuddle Martyrs, Comrades.

After Bill’s tragically early death in 1991, Peter dedicated much of his life to Bill’s legacy, and he was immensely proud that many new audiences discovered Bill’s films and that his genius and vision was finally appreciated and understood.

They always had the idea that the collection, acquired through ‘persistence and shoe leather’, rather than lots of money, should be shared with others, so they could experience the same joy and fascination that they gained from moving pictures. They collected strategically so that they had representative items across three centuries of moving image history. The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum is free and accessible to all.

In later years Peter returned to live in North Devon, where he had grown up. He carried on collecting and had an amazing eye for a bargain; he always said, ‘collecting is the disease for which there is no cure’. He continued to the very end of his life to find new items to enhance the museum.

Dr Phil Wickham, curator of the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, said: “Despite his great age, the news has come as a shock as Peter was still so sharp and full of life to the last. He was indomitable, witty, with a wealth of great stories, hugely intelligent, incredibly generous and kind, and fascinated by everything around him.”

“Peter could be exacting and uncompromising, but it was all in the cause of doing what he felt was best for the museum. Everything was done entirely without ego; he never had any wish to blow his own trumpet or seek glory. It was an extraordinarily generous and selfless act to gift the collection to the University to establish the museum. What he loved most was enthusiasm, something he communicated brilliantly in his talks to our students and other audiences, exciting everyone with his passion for the collection, Bill’s work, and moving image history.

“The museum is an amazing legacy to leave the world, and we are profoundly grateful to Peter for his vision, energy, and enthusiasm. It was a privilege to know him, to be his friend, and to work with him at the museum. I will miss him greatly, as will the Jewell family, and his many friends.”