Peter Bazalgette

Who is Peter Bazalgette?

Sir Peter Lytton Bazalgette is a British television producer who helped to create the independent TV production sector in the United Kingdom, and went on to be the leading creative figure in the global TV company Endemol. The Independent argued that he may be "the most influential man in British television" as a result of his impact on the development of reality television and lifestyle TV programmes. The Daily Mail once named him as one of the "Ten Worst Britons" for Endemol's Channel 4 show Big Brother and the London Evening Standard television critic Victor Lewis-Smith said that Bazalgette had "done more to debase television over the past decade than anyone else." He was elected President of the Royal Television Society and Deputy Chairman of the National Film School. He was knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to broadcasting.

He has been a benefactor to the arts and Deputy Chairman of English National Opera. In September 2012 it was announced that he would succeed Dame Elizabeth Forgan as Chair of the Arts Council England.