Stuart Prebble, the creator of the Grumpy Old Men BBC series and a former CEO of ITV, has died aged 74. Prebble died of pancreatic cancer on August 21, his family confirmed.
Prebble was a much-liked British TV executive who held senior roles both creative and commercial.
British broadcaster Michael Crick called Prebble “one of the most distinguished TV journalists of modern times” as he paid tribute on X.
After leaving university, he first edited the World in Action current affairs series before beginning to work his way up the ladder at UK network ITV overseeing factual shows.
He become ITV CEO in April 2001 and subsequently CEO of ITV Digital before leaving to set up an indie called Liberty Bell.
At Liberty Bell, Prebble came up with the Grumpy Old Men series, which involved a number of well-known middle-aged men talking about issues in modern life that irritated them. Contributors included Jeremy Clarkson, Bob Geldof and John Humphrys. The show amassed a cult following and ran for three series, leading to a spin-off titled Grumpy Old Women. This one featured Lesley Joseph, Janet Street-Porter and Jenny Eclair.
Prebble later sold Liberty Bell to Avalon and set up another indie, StoryVault Films, of which he was chair at the time of his death. That indie makes Sky’s highly-rated series Portrait Artist of the Year, which has won several awards. Prebble posted recently on Instagram that he was “Deliriously happy” filming Season 11 of the hit Sky show.
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