[2] On graduating from the Royal College Of Art, Cumming began his directing career at the BBC making films for the science show Tomorrows World.
[1] Between 1995 and 1997 Cumming directed Chris Morris' satire on current affairs: Brass Eye for Channel 4 and its pilot Torque TV, originally commissioned by the BBC.
In 2000, Cumming directed the award-winning BBC1 comedy Alistair McGowan's Big Impression and the following year, the Tony Roach sitcom World of Pub for BBC 2 starring Phil Cornwell, Kevin Eldon & Peter Serafinowicz.
In 2003, for the newly launched BBC 3, Cumming directed the first series of Three Non Blondes starring Jocelyn Jee Eisen, Tameka Empson and Ninia Benjamin.
Cumming teamed up with Rich Fulcher (The Mighty Boosh) and Matt Berry to make the cult BBC 3 series Snuff Box in 2006.
During this period Cumming also directed the pilots for several successful series, including: Touch Me, I'm Karen Taylor, The Peter Serafinowicz Show & Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle.
[10] Cumming has made a number of films for art galleries, exhibiting at the Whitworth Young Contemporaries and the Bracknell, Brighton and Sheffield video festivals.
[12] His short film Beachcomber, about the Sellafield nuclear re processing plant and made with artist Kevin Carr, was selected for the Sedition show in 2010, the Sea Change exhibition in 2014, Kevin Carr's memorial retrospective at the Florence Mine gallery in 2019 and the Signal Media curated West Coast Retrospective shows at Barrow (2019) & Whitehaven (2020).
Oxide Ghosts:The Brass Eye Tapes featured unseen material from the director's personal archive and played to over 100 sold out cinemas all over the UK and Ireland.
The promo - featuring a cast of very young record company executives and hipsters - took a gentle swipe at the music business and its marketing of Ezra's image.
[14] Cumming's independent film - King Rocker - in collaboration with comedian & writer Stewart Lee tells the story of Robert Lloyd and the ups and downs of his bands of 40 years The Prefects and The Nightingales.