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David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty ImagesAlan Yentob, the long-serving BBC arts broadcaster and documentary-maker, has died elderly 78.
Yentob profiled and interviewed a variety of vital cultural and artistic figures through the years, together with David Bowie, Charles Saatchi, Maya Angelou and Grayson Perry, for TV collection equivalent to Omnibus, Arena and Imagine.
He additionally served as controller of BBC One and Two, and the organisation’s ingenious director and head of song and humanities right through a protracted and sundry occupation.
Paying tribute to her past due husband, Philippa Walker described Yentob as “curious, funny, annoying, late and creative in every cell of his body” and added that he used to be “the kindest of men”.
BBC director-general Tim Davie referred to as him a “creative force and cultural visionary” who championed “originality, risk-taking and artistic ambition”.
He added: “To work with Alan was to be inspired and encouraged to think bigger. He had a rare gift for identifying talent and lifting others up – a mentor and champion to so many across the worlds of television, film and theatre.
“Above all, Alan used to be a real authentic. His hobby wasn’t performative – it used to be non-public. He believed within the energy of tradition to counterpoint, problem and fix us.”
Yentob was known for his connections in the entertainment industry, often befriending his famous film subjects who included music stars Jay-Z and Beyoncé, actors and filmmakers Orson Welles and Mel Brooks, and author Salman Rushdie.
Synonymous with the BBC, Yentob was seen by viewers engaging in an arm wrestle with Rushdie while listening to opera in a scene taken from W1A – a sitcom which satirised life at the corporation.
Yentob’s famous 1975 Omnibus feature, Cracked Actor, about David Bowie, showed the drug-affected star opening up to him in the back of a limousine at an “intensely ingenious time”, the filmmaker later recalled, but also at the singer’s most “fragile and exhausted”.
Yentob became controller of BBC Two in 1988, making him one of the youngest channel controllers in the corporation’s history.
He oversaw a popular and influential period for the channel, with commissions such as hit sitcom Absolutely Fabulous – where his name was dropped into the dialogue of one episode as an in-joke
Other shows launched during his tenure included The Late Show and Have I Got News for You.
Yentob’s success in the role saw him promoted to controller of BBC One from 1993 to 1997, before a stint as BBC television’s overall director of programmes.
He was announced as the corporation’s creative director in 2004, a role he filled for more than a decade. But he continued to step in front of the camera to front more Imagine programmes, including the final episode of that series, a profile of comedic duo French & Saunders.
His commissions also included a TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and children’s programmes CBBC and CBeebies.
BBC Radio 4 Today presenter Amol Rajan paid tribute, saying: “He used to be one of these distinctive and sort guy: an incredible impresario from humble origins who was a towering determine within the tradition of post-war Britain.
“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 public Alan. In private, he was magnetic, zealous, and very funny, with a mesmerising voice and mischievous chuckle.”
Yentob’s lengthy and a hit occupation on the BBC used to be no longer with out controversy.
In 2015, he resigned from his position because the BBC’s ingenious director, having confronted scrutiny for his position, as chairman, within the monetary mismanagement of the charity Kids Company.
Yentob mentioned the theory over his habits – which incorporated claims he had attempted to persuade the BBC protection of the charity’s dying – have been “proving a serious distraction” when the BBC used to be in “particularly challenging times”.
But within the years that adopted, he persisted to make many extra programmes for the broadcaster, and used to be therefore appointed a CBE in 2024 for services and products to the humanities and media.
He is survived through his spouse, TV manufacturer Philippa Walker, and their two kids.
