BBC king of comedy Gwenlan dies at 79

TV producer Gareth Gwenlan, responsible for some of the BBC’s most popular comedies, has died aged 79.

He was a producer for Only Fools And Horses, To The Manor Born and The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin.

While serving as the BBC’s head of comedy from 1983 until 1990 he commissioned classic shows such as Blackadder, One Foot In The Grave, Birds Of A Feather and Keeping Up Appearances.

Actor John Challis, better known as Boycie in Only Fools And Horses, said: “He was looked up to by everyone in the business.”

Born in Brecon, Mid Wales, in 1937, Gwenlan began his BBC career as a floor manager.

He was awarded a Royal Television Society Fellowship in 1997 and made an OBE in 2013.

One of his proudest moments came in 1978 when an episode of To The Manor Born, with Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles, was watched by 28 million viewers, one of TV’s largest audiences.