TV Legend Alan Yentob Has Died

Alan Yentob, the English director, producer and television executive who is partly responsible for the format of today’s modern TV shows, has died. He was 78.

Yentob died on May 24, and no cause of death was revealed. He had several major roles at the BBC, including head of music and arts, president of BBC1 and BBC2, and later became creative director of the corporation as a whole.

He joined the company in 1968, before quickly making a name for himself for producing, directing and interviewing in BBC’s megahit documentary series Omnibus. In 1975, he made a wildly popular documentary about David Bowie titled Cracked Actor detailing the rocker’s struggles with cocaine addiction.

Just a few months later, he helped create documentary series Arena, which has spotlighted some of the most important figures of our time and is still airing new documentary films today.

In 1987, Yentob was promoted to head of BBC2. While there, he created and produced some of the most famous series in the network’s history, like The Late Show, Absolutely Fabulous and Wallace and Gromit. He was also responsible for giving Jeremy Clarkson his hosting gig on Top Gear.

Six years later, he was promoted to run BBC1, where he produced or created several series that are still popular to this day, like Middlemarch, the Colin Firth-starring adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, The Office, Dragon’s Den (which came to America as Shark Tank) and Life on Mars. He was also partially responsible for the revival of Doctor Who.

In 2004, after being promoted to creative director, Yentob returned to filmmaking with the new documentary series Imagine, which saw him profile everyone from Jay-Z to Mel Brooks.

He is survived by his wife, television producer Philippa Walker.