The Canny Godfather of British Music & Arts Television – Alan Yentob 1947-2025

There were two key Godfathers of Arts TV in the UK. Both rivals, yet good friends, namely Melvyn Bragg and Alan Yentob.

Tuning in to the lunchtime news on BBC Radio Four on Sunday 25th of May, the lead story announced that Alan Yentob had died the previous day aged 78. BBC Director-General Tim Davie called him a “creative force and cultural visionary”. Melvyn Bragg paid tribute to Yentob’s unique ability to relax people by bringing out their very best in his interviews. These on-camera conversations seemed almost effortless, but remain exemplary.

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DAVID BOWIE

Yentob’s particular skill was in evidence in his 1975 BBC 1 Omnibus documentary Cracked Actor which followed David Bowie on his Diamond Dogs tour of America in 1974. Filmed at the time of Bowie’s significant transition from Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane into his Young American-meets-Mr Newton persona. Yentob captured him in his limo, while being chauffeured through the New Mexico desert, wearing the same hat he’d sport a year later in Nic Roeg’s movie masterpiece The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976). Yentob would modestly attest at The Portobello Film Festival of December 15th 2023 that he was lucky to be in “the right place at the right time!” Insightful and hypnotic, Cracked Actor was the antithesis of the late Russell Harty’s car crash Bowie interview for ITV’s Russell Harty Plus, transmitted ‘Live Via Satellite’ from ‘Downtown Burbank’ on London Weekend Television in 1975. “Hello David! Are you there?!”

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THE GOLDEN AGE OF BBC 2

By 1975, BBC2 was almost an Arts Channel in its own right. It was positively awash with Arts programming, notably, Melvyn Bragg’s Second House (1973–1976) and the prototype versions of Arena in the shape of Arena Theatre, Arena Art & Design, and Arena Cinema with Gavin Millar. All morphing and ever-changing, until Yentob was appointed as Series Editor in 1979, turning Arena from its former magazine hybrids into one-hour single-slot documentaries that would break the mould of traditional Arts TV for years to come.

With non-linear narratives that remain modern to this very day, Arena saw Anthony Wall and Nigel Finch’s groundbreaking story of the song My Way being nominated for, and winning, awards, while Who Is Poly Styrene? captured the Punk Rock hero of X-Ray Spex in her prime, but, sadly, also captured her prior to her nervous breakdown. Yentob’s Arena portrait of filmmaker Mel Brooks (1981) remains as the most amusing documentary ever made about Mel Brooks, who, shortly afterwards, made Yentob the Godfather to his children.

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YENTOB’S METEORIC RISE WITHIN THE BBC

With Anthony Wall taking over as Series Editor of Arena in 1985 until 2018, Yentob returned to BBC 1’s Omnibus series in 1986. There he co-executive produced and voiced a brilliant documentary about two former Israeli entrepreneur-filmmaker brothers, namely Menahem ‘Golan’ and Yoram Globus. The Globus’s Cannon Films had acquired every former EMI-owned ABC Cinema in the UK, along with the Classic Cinemas chain. Smelling a rat, Reporter-Producer Yentob and Director Christopher Sykes both gauged that this enterprise was built on quicksand. The programme was filmed in the same year that Cannon funded Michael Winner’s Death Wish 3 in London. The Cannon Group Inc., which included the Cannon Films production company, went bankrupt on January 21st 1994 and ceased to exist thereafter.

Overseeing BBC1’s Omnibus series with Leslie Megahey, Yentob became BBC’s Head of Music & Arts until 1987. He was promoted to Controller of BBC2 in 1988. He was one of the youngest BBC TV Controllers to date. Under Yentob’s six-year BBC2 tenure, he introduced new programmes such as The Late Show, spawning Late Review and Later With Jools, alongside Have I Got News for You and Absolutely Fabulous. These followed hard on the heels of Janet Street-Porter’s Youth TV series DEF II, which he enabled through development.

In 1993 he became Controller of BBC 1, axing a primetime Spanish expat soap opera Eldorado, replacing it with the famous nightly chat show Wogan. Here at BBC 1 he also commissioned the dramas Middlemarch, Pride & Prejudice, and the popular Irish drama series made by Tony Garnett’s World TV Productions, Ballykissangel. In 1996 he was promoted to become BBC TV’s Director of Programmes until 1997. Thereafter, a re-organisation of the BBC’s Executive Committee created a new post especially for him.

In 1997 Yentob became Director of BBC Drama, BBC Entertainment, and BBC Children’s Programming. He launched the children’s channels CBBC and CBeebies in his new capacity. He also helped to commission new BBC series such as The Office, The Thick of It, and Life On Mars, while overhauling and re-establishing classics like Doctor Who and Top Gear. He gave Jeremy Clarkson the role as lead presenter (2002–2015) in what was to be the most financially successful BBC Worldwide franchise ever sold overseas. Yentob occupied this post until June 2004, when Director-General Mark Thompson reorganised the BBC’s Executive Committee, promoting Yentob to a new post, again specifically created for him, as BBC’s Creative Director, where he was solely responsible for overseeing the BBC’s creative output across all of BBC TV, Radio, and their Interactive Services. He held this post from 2004 until 2015 when he resigned.

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THE ‘NODDYGATE’ & ‘TEN-BOB’ CONTROVERSIES

In 2007 The Times newspaper reported that some of Yentob’s interviews as featured in his newly created BBC 1 Arts series Imagine had used aspects of ‘fakery’ by using the time-honoured tradition of cutaways to the series host, nodding. This created the impression that Yentob had undertaken all of these interviews, which in many instances, had been provided by others. This ‘Noddygate’ controversy was also picked up by Private Eye, The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The London Evening Standard in 2007.

Two years later on 5th July 2009 The Times once again sparked further controversy, with the headline: “Licence payers fund BBC chief’s £8 million pension”. In particular, Yentob was revealed to have accumulated a pension actually worth £6.3m, giving him an annual retirement income of £216,667 for the rest of his life. This was one of the biggest declared public pensions ever to be cited within the public sector.

Furthermore, according to The Independent newspaper of 6th June 2013, Yentob was paid ‘a declared salary of £183,000 by the BBC’ with additional income from the BBC for presenting, and ‘other roles’. This was ‘reputed’ to earn him an extra £150,000 p.a, bringing his annual BBC income to an estimated £330,000, claimed The Independent’s James Legge. This earned Yentob a mischievous nickname, Alan Ten-Bob. Private Eye’s preferred moniker? Botney, a simple reversal of Yentob’s surname.

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YENTOB’S BBC RESIGNATION OF 2015

According to Paul Glynn (the BBC’s Online Cultural Reporter) in his tribute to Alan Yentob of 25th May 2025, the further controversy of Kids Company caused Yentob to quit as BBC’s Creative Director. He would, however, remain in charge of the series Imagine until 2023.

“In 2015, he resigned from his role as the BBC’s Creative Director, having faced scrutiny for his role, as Chairman, in the collapse of the charity Kids Company. Yentob said the speculation over his conduct, which included claims he had tried to influence the BBC coverage of the charity’s demise, had been ‘proving a serious distraction’ when the BBC was in ‘particularly challenging times’.”

BBC News later concluded that he did not influence its reporting of Kids Company.

In 2021, the founder and former trustees of the charity, including Yentob, were cleared of any personal wrongdoing.

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YENTOB AXED OMNIBUS – THE FIRST SERIES HE PRODUCED & DIRECTED

Back in 2003 Alan Yentob axed BBC 1’s longest surviving Arts series Omnibus, which he had started working on 30 years previously, firstly as their trainee director. He replaced Omnibus with a brand new heavyweight Arts series of epic proportions: one-off films for transmission on BBC 1, which he would commission, present or ‘voice’ as the series host. The series was simply called Imagine.

It ran for 20 years, delivering 229 one-off episodes, before it was axed by the BBC in 2023. These in-depth films analysed every aspect of Literature, Art, Theatre, Cinema, and Music. His final two Imagines of 2023 rate among his very best – namely his portrait of French & Saunders and his masterpiece on the British film director Stephen Frears.

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ROD STEWART

During the 20-year run that he Executive Produced and participated in Imagine, there were three particular BBC 1 Imagines produced as music documentaries that I nearly worked on as their Archive Producer, or in the final case, had an association with…

In 1997 The Tube series creator Whizzkid-Producer Malcolm Gerrie invited me and the late film director Geoff Wonfor (The Beatles Anthology) to the Dorchester Hotel in Park Lane to meet Rod Stewart and his manager, along with former record industry legend Rob Dickens, and his wife the former Top Of The Pops Pans People dancer, Cherry.

The plan was to make Rod Stewart’s Life Story as a documentary, but Rod never showed. Instead, he headed to the bar, bought himself a large Scotch, and got back in the elevator. Somehow? We’d failed the litmus test.

The documentary that Gerrie had envisaged with Wonfor became a similar-styled Imagine, made in the summer of 2013: Rod Stewart: Can’t Stop Me Now. I asked Geoff Wonfor what he thought back in 2013. “Canny that!” replied Wonfor, with a twinkly smile. He’d previously directed an Imagine on Stella McCartney: Stella’s Story (2003), about Macca’s fashion designer daughter, for Series 1 of Imagine.

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THE ROLLING STONES

In 2002, while I was working on the famous TV series Classic Albums for a now-defunct production company, Isis, I overheard mutterings and approaches to The Rolling Stones’ former UK business operation – formerly known as Munro Sounds. The idea was to make a Classic Albums Special on the making of The Stones album Exile On Main Street.

The Stones thought better of it and produced it themselves, along with their director of choice. All in liaison with Alan Yentob for Imagine. It was called The Stones in Exile (2010). Truly excellent. One of Imagine’s very best.

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BRIAN WILSON

Following on from former Beach Boy Brian Wilson performing Pet Sounds in concert with The Wondermints at The Royal Festival Hall in 2002, the journalist-author-documentarian David Leaf asked me if I had a route to reach out to Alan Yentob. I had a direct email for him. I shared this with Leaf and Yentob.

Imagine: Brian Wilson Beautiful Dreamer – The Story of Brian Wilson’s Smile aired in December 2004 on BBC 1. Leaf was a gentleman and rewarded me with two VIP Triple ‘A’ passes to the world premiere of Smile. Wilson’s Smile took place at The Royal Festival Hall in London on 20th February 2004. The performance, a revival of the 1960s album abandoned by The Beach Boys, was met with a standing ovation. This was repeated over several nights. These were the finest concert experiences of my lifetime. Yentob was also a huge Beach Boys fan.

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BBC RADIO FOUR NEWS TRIBUTE

BBC Radio 4 Today presenter Amol Rajan paid tribute to Yentob on Sunday, saying,

“Modern art never had a more loyal ally. His shows were always brilliant, often masterpieces, sometimes seminal. So much of Britain’s best TV over five decades came via his desk. That was Alan in public. In private, he was magnetic, zealous, and very funny, with a mesmerising voice and mischievous chuckle.”

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On 15th December 2023 I arrived at The Muse Gallery in Portobello Road for The Portobello Film Festival screening of Yentob’s Cracked Actor, following on from his spot on Portobello Radio in the same venue. Affable and without fuss, Yentob walked over to me, not knowing me, as we’d never met, and said, “Hello Henry, nice to meet you!” Aware that my documentary Soho’s Cinema Tales was to follow Cracked Actor, it was a lovely gesture from a man of great humility, immense talent, and overwhelming knowledge. A true TV legend.

Alan Yentob was appointed a CBE in 2024 for his services to the Arts & Media.

He is survived by his wife, the TV producer Philippa Walker, and their two children.

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[Image Credit: Henry Scott Irvine]