In 1950, Lovell joined Sydney's
Metropolitan Theatre under Hollinworth, and when she fell ill he took over production. In 1951, Lovell won a Commonwealth Jubilee Arts Scholarship in Drama, a travelling scholarship awarded by the
British Council to study production in England. He continued acting for the ABC under producers
Eric John and
Frank Zeppel in the last decade of Australian radio drama, and in several ABC-TV historical plays. In 1959, Lovell appeared as the main protagonist in the convict-themed
Pardon Miss Westcott, which was the first Australian musical written specially for
live television. That same year, he had a small role in feature film
The Restless and the Damned. Lovell was also a regular in
Crawford Productions for commercial TV; notably as the avuncular spy chief on late 1960s series
Hunter. During the 1970–1972 seasons of Crawfords' long-running Melbourne police series
Homicide, he served as a line producer and television dialogue director, before it moved completely into being a fully-filmed program. In 1972 he returned to Sydney, joining the staff of ABC Radio as a producer of education programs. ==Personal life==