Dadadadadadadadadada! And the final flourish! Almost two decades after the series was discontinued, the boomer generation can still sing or whistle the "7th Sense" theme tune. The catchy music was created by the father of "7. Sinn", Alfred Noell. The Bergisch Gladbach native is still creative today. The TV veteran celebrates his 90th birthday on March 27.
His life belongs to the media
Noell began his media career in 1953 at the Hildener Zeitung. After his traineeship, he moved to the Rheinische Post in Düsseldorf in 1956. In 1959, he began making his own reports for television. The following year, he founded his own company and began working as a permanent freelancer for WDR. For the next five decades, his company Cine Relation GmbH produced on behalf of ARD, ZDF, DSF and n-tv and by 2005 had produced more than 10,000 films, television series and commercials.
If others have blood flowing through their veins, Alfred Noell has always had petrol running through his veins: early on, he had a particular soft spot for motor and traffic topics. His first series "Tips and Tricks for Drivers" appeared with 72 episodes on the WDR regional program "Hier und Heute". At the same time, he was also very active in motorsport: during his 25 years working for the ARD sports show, he contributed to several hundred programs on motorsport, including the World Rally Championship and 17 reports on the Monte Carlo Rally.
In 1966, Noell created the concept for the series "The 7th Sense", which is still considered "the mother of all traffic education programs". Until it was discontinued in its 39th year by WDR in 2005, Alfred Noell produced 1754 episodes, for which he received several awards, including international ones.
At the beginning of the 1970s, he took a short break and headed the press department at Ford-Werke for three years before returning to directing, behind the camera and the editing table. As an independent entrepreneur, he produced countless films and videos for TV stations, automobile companies, ministries and associations under the umbrella of his production company Cine Relation until 2007.
2008 as a consultant with the 7th sense in China
At the beginning of the 1980s, Noell also co-founded the Association of the Television, Film and Video Industry of North Rhine-Westphalia and was its managing director for six years. In cooperation with the government of North Rhine-Westphalia, he also drafted a bill for the state's film promotion law.
The interests of children have always been close to Noell's heart. On behalf of ARD and ZDF, Noell created several long-running series for the afternoon program, including the series Herr Daniel paßt auf, Was Kalle Quast nicht paßt, Kalles Kleister Kompanie and the fairy tale Zauber um Romana. In addition, by founding the association "Hilfe für das verkehrsgeschädigte Kind" (Help for children with traffic injuries), he has always campaigned for more awareness of children in road traffic. He staged numerous high-profile campaigns to raise awareness of the special need to protect children in road traffic.
Until 1991, Noell also played a key role in more than 80 episodes of the quiz series So läuft's richtig, hosted by Dieter Thomas Heck and Ramona Leiß. He was also responsible for the early evening series Siebenbirken, which was one of the most successful programs of its genre in 1992.
In 1994, the series Ohne Schein läuft nichts, produced by Cine Relation GmbH, appeared on ZDF's early evening program. Under the aegis of Alfred Noell, he also made contributions to cultural and knowledge magazines, one-part programs and television films with well-known actors, including Blacky Fuchsberger, Erik Ode, Klaus Wennemann, Monika Peitsch, Hans Jürgen Bäumler and Miroslav Nemec.
In 2008, as a consultant in Beijing and Shanghai, he accompanied the export of the "7th Sense" concept to Chinese television, which his partner and co-partner Angela Recino was promoting at the time on behalf of Volkswagen China.
In view of his many years of intensive involvement in the automotive and motorsport sectors, there is hardly anyone who knows as much about classic cars as Alfred Noell. He generously shares his extensive and detailed knowledge, including in his book "Geliebtes Blech" (Beloved Sheet Metal), which he published in 2013 with Heider-Verlag. To this day, he is still represented as an expert with entertaining guest articles about classic cars in the print press or is a welcome guest on podcasts. Alfred Noell has been awarded the Federal Cross of Merit and has received over 60 national and international television awards, including the Silver Nymph of Monte Carlo, presented by Princess Grazia Patrizia.
