After making a number of documentaries at the BBC, Russell came to prominence through his 'Elgar' (1962) biography and with this a chance to direct his first feature film, French Dressing (1963).

It proved insufficiently popular to sustain a cinema career and he went back to TV and to wait his big chance.

He returned to the cinema to make Billion Dollar Brain (1967), the third of the Len Deighton spy films for Harry Saltzman starring Michael Caine as Harry Palmer.

Unfairly, this film did not do well and Russell went back to TV.

It was not until Women in Love (1969) that Russell had a film that was critically well-received and a success at the box-office.

The Devils (1971) was the directors most shocking work to datewith its sensationalist combination of sexual activity and religious iconography were deemed too offensive to be allowed to be seen uncensored.

Russell's appetite for excess found a suitable outlet in his highly successful film of Pete Townshend's rock opera Tommy (1975).

In recent years Russell has found it difficult to recapture his former creativity, although Altered States (1980), Crimes of Passion (1984), Gothic (1986) and The Lair of the White Worm (1988), are entertaining, intellectually engaging and often eccentric.

These traits ensure that a new Ken Russell project was always greeted with high anticipation.