The household of broadcaster, producer and long-time BBC govt Alan Yentob has introduced he died on Saturday. He was 78.

Yentob joined the BBC as a trainee in 1968 and went on to have a distinguished profession, holding various senior and influential positions, together with controller of BBC One and BBC Two; director of tv; head of music and humanities; director of BBC Drama, Leisure and Kids’s; and artistic director. His commissions embrace “Completely Fabulous,” “Have I Acquired Information for You” and the traditional adaptation of “Pleasure and Prejudice.” He additionally launched children’ channels CBBC and CBeebies.

He made his title on the humanities sequence “Enviornment” and in addition edited and introduced the humanities documentary sequence “Think about” from 2003.

Yentob was introduced in 2024 with a U.Okay. honor, a CBE, for companies to the humanities and media.

His spouse Philippa Walker mentioned: “For Jacob, Bella and I day-after-day with Alan held the promise of one thing sudden. Our life was thrilling, he was thrilling.

“He was curious, humorous, annoying, late and artistic in each cell of his physique. However greater than that, he was the kindest of males and a profoundly ethical man. He leaves in his wake a path of affection a mile large.”

BBC director-general Tim Davie mentioned: “Alan Yentob was a towering determine in British broadcasting and the humanities. A artistic pressure and a cultural visionary, he formed many years of programming on the BBC and past, with a ardour for storytelling and public service that go away an enduring legacy.

“For almost 60 years Alan championed originality, risk-taking and inventive ambition. From ‘Enviornment’ to ‘Think about,’ from commissioning groundbreaking drama to giving rising voices a platform, his affect is woven into the material of British cultural life.

“He believed profoundly within the BBC’s position as a house for creativity, curiosity and the humanities – accessible to all.

“However Alan was greater than a pioneering artistic – he was an unforgettable presence. Partaking, witty and endlessly curious, he introduced power and heat to each dialog. He was beneficiant together with his time, fierce in his convictions, and filled with pleasure within the work of others.

“To work with Alan was to be impressed and inspired to suppose greater. He had a uncommon present for figuring out expertise and lifting others up – a mentor and champion to so many throughout the worlds of tv, movie and theatre.

“Above all, Alan was a real unique. His ardour wasn’t performative – it was private. He believed within the energy of tradition to counterpoint, problem and join us.

“We’ve got misplaced one of many nice artistic spirits of our time. However his packages, his voice, and the generations he impressed, will stay on.

“Our ideas are together with his household and family members. Alan shall be vastly missed as a good friend, a colleague, and one of many defining figures within the story of British tradition.”