Don’t sell off Channel 4, says Wife Swap millionaire

STEPHEN Lambert, who criticised the Government’s ‘destructive plan’ to privatise Channel 4 at the Baftas, is behind some of the channel’s biggest shows including Four In A Bed and Gogglebox.

So it is hardly surprising that he used his speech on Sunday night to defend the broadcaster as he accepted Gogglebox’s second award of the evening.

Lambert, 63, chief executive of Studio Lambert, said: ‘Gogglebox might have ended when it started nine years ago because it had modest ratings but a publicly owned risk-taking Channel 4 believed in it and they stuck with it.

‘If the Government goes ahead with its destructive plan to end Channel 4, these kinds of risks will not be taken and a big part of what makes British TV great will have ended for no good reason.’

Lambert, reportedly worth £5million, is a television producer and executive who has made a fortune launching some of Channel 4’s biggest programmes, including Wife Swap, Undercover Boss and Secret Millionaire.

However, his position as one of Channel 4’s favourite providers could be at risk should the broadcaster be privatised. If a private owner takes over they will be likely to make their own programmes rather than relying on independent production companies such as Lambert’s.

Lambert is married to Times columnist Jenni Russell, with whom he has two children. The Government gave the go-ahead for Channel 4’s privatisation in its White Paper at the end of last month.