Charles Curran (television executive)
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2014) |
Charles Curran | |
|---|---|
| 8th Director-General of the BBC | |
| In office 1969–1977 | |
| Preceded by | Sir Hugh Greene |
| Succeeded by | Sir Ian Trethowan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 13 October 1921 Wath Grammar School |
| Alma mater | Magdalene College, Cambridge |
Sir Charles John Curran (13 October 1921 – 9 January 1980) was an Irish-born British television executive and Director-General of the BBC from 1969 to 1977.
Early years
Curran was born in
Career
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He served in the
He was director-general of the BBC from 1 April 1969 to 30 September 1977. He was the first grammar school-educated director-general.[2]
Following the appointment of the former Conservative minister Lord Hill as chairman of the BBC governors in 1967 (ironically, the Labour prime minister who appointed Hill, Harold Wilson, had attacked Hill's appointment as chairman of the Independent Television Authority under a Conservative government in 1963), Curran's arrival marked a return to a more cautious approach after the radicalism of Sir Hugh Carleton Greene.
Curran also suffered criticism from Wilson, at that time the leader of the opposition, who claimed that the documentary
Unlike Greene, Curran allowed himself to be influenced by Mary Whitehouse. Curran issued an apology to Whitehouse after she complained about the violence at the end of part three of The Deadly Assassin (1976), a Doctor Who serial. Philip Hinchcliffe, then series producer, was replaced after only three more serials and his successor, Graham Williams, was ordered to lighten the tone and reduce the violence and horror content.[5]
It was under Curran that the BBC produced some of its best-loved and most consistently repeated comedy series, such as Dad's Army, Porridge and the first series of Fawlty Towers. Curran has often been blamed for an unenthusiastic and somewhat censorious attitude towards Monty Python's Flying Circus, but the Python team still won many of their battles with BBC officialdom. The Play for Today series continued to take risks throughout Curran's eight years as Director-General. The Morecambe and Wise Show became one of the best-loved British TV institutions ever between 1969 and 1977, and the Curran era also saw the development of Michael Parkinson's hugely popular Saturday-night chat show.
Knighthood and death
Curran was made a Knight Bachelor in 1974.[6][1] Following a period of ill health, Curran died from a heart attack on 9 January 1980, aged 58.[1] His funeral was held in Westminster Cathedral.
References
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
- ^ "Factsheet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
- ^ David Wilby Yesterday's Men 1971" Archived 22 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine, BBC 2006
- ^ Yesterday's Men (1971) Archived 23 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine, History of the BBC
- ^ David J. Howe, Mark Stammers, Stephen James Walker Doctor Who: The Seventies, Niagara, NY: London Bridge, 1994. p. 108
- ^ Supplement to the London Gazette of Friday, 28 December 1973, No. 46162, Tuesday, 1 January 1974, p. 1
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