John Gau, who has died aged 83, had a 40-year profession in tv present affairs and documentaries that was notable for his time as a producer on Panorama, a tumultuous interval because the BBC’s head of present affairs after which as a number one gentle within the new age of unbiased manufacturing heralded by the launch of Channel 4.
On Panorama from 1969 to 1973 he fashioned a fruitful producer-reporter partnership with Julian Pettifer. Their early programmes raised ethical questions concerning the enormous price of the moon landings, assessed the British military’s position in Northern Eire and, in 1973, revealed what life was actually like for residents of Ukraine, prematurely of a primary go to to the Soviet Union by British royals for the reason that 1917 revolution.
The pair had beforehand labored collectively on one other BBC present affairs sequence, 24 Hours, which Gau produced from 1965 to 1969, and Pettifer was a presenter throughout Gau’s tenures as deputy editor of Midweek (1973-75) and editor of Nationwide (1975-78).
Later, as head of BBC tv’s present affairs group (1978-81), Gau was embroiled in battles along with his personal bosses and numerous politicians. Jitters over a 1980 Panorama programme asking whether or not all potential transplant donors had been accurately pronounced lifeless led Ian Trethowan, the BBC’s director-general – lobbied by transplant surgeons – to say to Gau: “I feel it’s best to pull the programme.” Gau replied: “You pull it if you wish to. I feel it’s a superbly good present,” and it went forward.
A yr earlier, extra critically, Gau was on the centre of one of many BBC’s greatest political storms, when the Troubles in Northern Eire had been at their peak. Whereas making a Panorama episode analyzing the IRA’s historical past, the reporter Jeremy Paxman and producer David Darlow obtained a tip-off to drive to the County Tyrone village of Carrickmore, the place they had been capable of movie IRA members finishing up “highway checks” on motorists – staged as a show of energy.
The footage was by no means screened, however some newspapers accused the BBC of colluding with “the enemy” and the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, instructed the company to “put their home so as”.
Gau knew that the proposed programme had, in accordance with BBC guidelines on the protection of Northern Eire, been “referred up” the administration construction to Richard Francis, the director of stories and present affairs, though it emerged that the Northern Eire controller, James Hawthorne, had not been instructed.
Roger Bolton, Panorama’s editor, was sacked – however reinstated after strong backing from the Nationwide Union of Journalists and Gau.
Writing to the BBC’s deputy director of tv, Robin Scott, Gau had argued that the BBC he had joined within the Sixties had been “fiercely unbiased, journalistically brave and steadfastly loyal to its workers” – and that “the dealing with of the Carrickmore incident appears to me to name these virtues into query”. Like Bolton, Gau was formally reprimanded, however held on to his job.
Establishing his personal firm, John Gau Productions, in 1981, Gau later loved greater than 20 years as an unbiased producer. The chance arose with the 1982 launch of Channel 4, which revolutionised British broadcasting by commissioning programmes fairly than making its personal.
His output as an govt producer or hands-on producer for the tv beginner was prolific, from The Entrance Line (1983), on war-torn El Salvador, to The Residing Physique (1984-85), a 26-part examination of how people work, to celebrations of human endurance reminiscent of On Angel’s Wings (1985), a few hang-glider flight over Venezuela’s spectacular Angel Falls, and 90 Levels South (1987), following Monica Kristensen within the footsteps of Roald Amundsen.
The brand new period of commissioning independence additionally allowed Gau to make documentaries for his former employer, the BBC. They included Deep Into the Blue Holes (1983), a World About Us episode about an underwater expedition beneath the Bahamas, and histories of the army (Troopers, 1985), aviation (Reaching for the Skies, 1988) and motor racing (The Energy and the Glory, 1991).
The silver display was within the highlight for Lights, Digital camera, Motion: A Century of Cinema (1996) on ITV, whereas Electrical Cash (2001), made for PBS within the US, charted the digital revolution’s impact on monetary actions.
Gau was born in London to South African dad and mom, Nan Munro, an actor, and her husband, William Gau, a civil engineer who died in motion in the course of the second world struggle. His mom then married the writer Rayne Kruger, who finally left her for the cookery author Prue Leith.
After attending Haileybury in Hertfordshire, he studied classics and trendy languages at Trinity Corridor Cambridge earlier than transferring on to the College of Wisconsin, the place he grew to become concerned in campus tv. He joined the BBC as an assistant movie editor in 1963 and inside two years was a producer.
After organising John Gau Productions along with his spouse, the actor Susan Tebbs, whom he had married in 1966, he was approached by the Labour celebration to supply its political broadcasts after Neil Kinnock grew to become chief in 1983.
4 years later, with the Chariots of Hearth director Hugh Hudson, Gau – left-leaning privately, however neutral in his documentaries and present affairs programmes– concentrated its election broadcasts on Kinnock’s ardour and affable character, and featured the music of Brahms.
The primary was dubbed Kinnock: the Film, and boosted his approval score, though Labour finally did not beat the Tories.
From 1988 to 1990 Gau was director of programmes at British Satellite tv for pc Broadcasting, earlier than it merged with Sky. Appointed a CBE in 1989, he chaired the Unbiased Programme Producers Affiliation (1983-86) and the Royal Tv Society (1987-91) and was a director of Channel 4 (1984-88).
He’s survived by his spouse and their youngsters, William and Chris.
