Bill Cotton: Difference between revisions

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'''Bill Cotton''' (born [[April 23]], [[1928]]) [[Order of the British Empire|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’sfather’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’sCotton’s success as Head of Light Entertainment led to his promotion to Controller of [[BBC One]], the Corporation’sCorporation’s premier and the [[United Kingdom|UK]]’s’s oldest television station, in [[1977]]. He oversaw some of the channel’schannel’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.

He has been awarded the [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] for his services to British Broadcasting, and is a Vice President of the [[Marie Curie]] Cancer Care charity.

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