Former BBC TV exec Cotton dies, 80

Sir Bill Cotton, the former managing director of BBC Television and a former controller of BBC One, has died at the age of 80.

Sir Bill retired in 1987, having joined the BBC in 1956 as a producer of light entertainment programmes. By 1970, he was the corporation's head of light entertainment and in 1977 took over from Bryan Cowgill as the controller responsible for BBC One. After four years, he was appointed managing director of BBC TV.

The BBC's creative director Alan Yentob said Sir Bill "was a wonderful man and an inspirational broadcaster", and added: "Under his leadership in the '70s the BBC commissioned and produced a raft of entertainment and comedy which set a benchmark for these genres which has rarely been surpassed.

"From Monty Python to Morecambe And Wise, from The Generation Game to Dad's Army, these shows and others like them have helped to define not just a genre but a generation.

"Bill Cotton was always there to remind us that the BBC mission to entertain could be just as ambitious and aspirational as our commitment to inform and educate."

Bruce Forsyth, whose stint on The Generation Game was overseen by Sir Bill, said he was "a very dear friend" and added that he had been "responsible for what I think was the golden age of BBC television, which we'll never have again".