Campbell was born in north-east England and educated at RGS Newcastle and New College, Oxford, where he read English Literature.
During the dot-com bubble Bell focused entirely on new media, working for clients such as Granada Television, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and UBS Warburg[1] from offices in Carnaby Street, London and New York.
In 2002 Campbell re-located to north-east England[2] and co-founded Liberty Bell Productions[3] (the TV company which produced Grumpy Old Men for the BBC) with former ITV CEO Stuart Prebble[4] and The Tube creator Andrea Wonfor.
[14][15] Campbell has performed as a freelance professional musician for most of his life, playing timpani, percussion and drums.
He now freelances part-time as a timpanist with Royal Northern Sinfonia and other professional orchestras and plays jazz and rock drums for pleasure.