Bill Cotton
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Sir Bill Cotton (born April 23, 1928) CBE, is a British television producer and executive, the son of big-band leader Billy Cotton. He joined BBC Television as an in-house producer of light entertainment programmes in 1956, working on various programmes such as his father’s The Billy Cotton Band Show and popular music programme Six-Five Special.
In the late 1960s he was promoted to Head of Light Entertainment. In this position, he was responsible for overseeing the commissioning of a whole series of popular and iconic comedy programmes, including Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969), The Two Ronnies (1971) and Morecambe and Wise (1968). His era is generally seen as the most popular in the history of BBC Light Entertainment, with programmes such as Morecambe and Wise becoming iconic parts of British popular culture and drawing huge audience figures, while the more subversive Monty Python provided a more cutting-edge, contemporary and daring complement.
Cotton’s success as Head of Light Entertainment led to his promotion to Controller of BBC One, the Corporation’s premier and the UK’s oldest television station, in 1977. He oversaw some of the channel’s highest-ever audience figures in 1979, although this was mostly due to the main opposition, ITV, being on strike for over a hundred days.
In 1981 Cotton was promoted again, this time to become Managing Director of Television, a role he fulfilled until his retirement from the Corporation in 1987. He has subsequently done some freelance executive producing work in the light entertainment area and he has served as Chairman of Noel Gay Television.
He has been awarded the CBE and received a Knighthood for his services to British Broadcasting. He is a Vice President of the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity.
| Preceded by: Bryan Cowgill 1973-1977 | Controller of BBC One 1977-1981 | Followed by: Alan Hart 1981-1984 |