Bryan Cowgill

Bryan Cowgill (May 27, 1927 – July 14, 2008) was a British television executive. He served as Head of Sport, BBC Television (1963-1973), Controller of BBC One (1973-1977), and Managing Director of Thames TV (1977-1985).

Born in Clitheroe, Lancashire, he attended Clitheroe Royal Grammar School. After leaving school he became a copy boy with the Lancashire Evening Post, where his father was a printer. In 1942 he joined the Royal Marines, and during the next five years he saw service in South East Asia.

On demobilisation in 1947 he rejoined the "Evening Post" as a reporter and feature writer, then for five years he edited a local weekly paper in Clitheroe. He joined the BBC in 1955 as a production assistant in Outside Broadcasting.

In 1958 he devised the Saturday afternoon sports showcase "Grandstand", which was an immediate success and ran on BBC One until January 28 2007. In 1963 he was promoted to Head of Sport.

It was in 1964, under his control of the department, that the BBC introduced the football highlights programme "Match of the Day", another famous format which is still running as of 2008. Also during his tenure the BBC covered an increasing number of ambitious sporting events, including organising extensive coverage as host broadcaster of the 1966 World Cup and showing coverage live by satellite from Mexico of both the 1968 Olympic Games and 1970 World Cup.

In 1973, after a decade in charge of the sports department of BBC Television, he was promoted to Controller of BBC One, the Corporation’s premier television station. Despite coming from a sports background, he was able to oversee a successful era of programming across all types and genres, with the introduction of popular new sitcoms such as "Porridge" and "The Good Life", and dramas in the vein of "When the Boat Comes In" and "All Creatures Great and Small".

In 1977 he accepted an offer to leave the BBC after over twenty years to join Thames Television as Managing Director. In 1984 Cowgill, in a foretaste of changes to come within the industry, successfully resisted demands by the ACTT union for additional payments to use new technology, by maintaining a reduced service while the other ITV contractors met demands for a 20% rise in pay. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2303123/Bryan-Cowgill.html Obituary "Brian Cowgill",] "Daily Telegraph", 15 July 2008.]

During his tenure at Thames he tried to acquire the popular 1980s soap opera "Dallas" which had previously been associated with the BBC, abandoning a gentleman's agreement not to poach purchased programming. Other ITV companies refused to show "Dallas" if Thames retained it, and this led to Cowgill's resignation in 1985 at the age of 58.

He published an autobiography, "Mr Action Replay" in 2006 (ISBN 0955299209) [http://www.rts.org.uk/magazine_det.asp?id=4774&sec_id=827] .

References

External links

* [http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/ Obituary] in "The Stage"