Education
London School of Economics.
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Michael Peacock
Edit Profilehead producer television executive
Career
After graduating with an upper second class degree in sociology from the London School of Economics in 1952, Michael Peacock immediately joined British Broadcasting Corporation Television as a trainee producer, working under Grace Wyndham Goldie in the Television Talks Department, based at Alexandra Palace, which moved to the Lime Grove Studios the following year. In 1955 he become the producer of Panorama, the Corporation"s first weekly television current affairs series, at the age of twenty-six. Under his editorship with Richard Dimbleby as anchorman the programme developed a high reputation, and during the Suez crisis in 1956 audiences reached 12 million viewers.
lieutenant was Peacock who was responsible for the April Fools" Day hoax which fooled many viewers into believing that spaghetti grew on trees.
In 1958 Peacock was appointed Assistant Head of Television Outside Broadcasts with the brief to develop documentary OBs. In 1959 he returned to Panorama where ratings had fallen badly.
He recruited a new team of reporters including Robert Kee and James Mossman and restored ratings to the 8-10 million level Michael Peacock and Donald Baverstock, with Ian Atkins, were given the daunting task in 1959 of preparing a report into ways to improve British Broadcasting Corporation Television News.
Their recommendations were accepted in full, and in 1960 he was promoted to Editor of Television News, then based at Alexandra Palace.
He remained in this post until 1963, when he was appointed Chief of Programmes (British Broadcasting Corporation-2). His task was to lead the launch of the British Broadcasting Corporation"s second channel due to begin transmissions in 625line Ultra high frequency in April 1964. During the first year of British Broadcasting Corporation-2 he oversaw the screening of some significant successes such as the 26 part documentary series The Great War, Match of the Day and the sitcom The Likely Lads, but audiences for the new channel were very small.
In 1965, he was moved across to be Controller of the more mainstream British Broadcasting Corporation 1, to which it was felt his talents would be more suited.
Peacock is one of only three people (the others being Alan Yentob and Michael Jackson) to have been Controller of both channels. Under Peacock, British Broadcasting Corporation-1 became a channel at the peak of one of its most successful eras.
However, his time in the post was barely longer than his tenure at British Broadcasting Corporation-2. This was because in 1967 he was head-hunted to be the first Managing Director of London Weekend Television, which began transmissions in 1968.
However, his time at LWT was frustrated by union problems, conflict with the other Independent Television contractors who objected to the new company"s "high brow" London-centric programming and ratings which were lower than anticipated.
He was fired by the company in 1969 and ten senior programme staff resigned in support, including several who had left the British Broadcasting Corporation with him. In 1971 Peacock joined Warner Bros television Limited as Doctor of Medicine in London, making co-productions with British Broadcasting Corporation television and Independent Television. Perhaps his most successful was David Attenborough"s Life on Earth. By the early 1980s, Video Arts was the largest producer of training films in the world, with more than a hundred films in its catalogue.
In 1974, Peacock was invited to become Executive Vice President of Warner Bros television Incorporated which meant moving with his family for 2 years to work in Burbank, California.
On his return to the United Kingdom he developed the television side of Video Arts. He was Chief Executive of Video Arts television,and when Milton Friedman chose VATV to produce his Free to Choose series, Peacock was the Executive producer with Michael Latham, his line producer.
He helped to found Manchester"s Piccadilly Radio in 1974, and was a director until 1987. He was Chairman of Unique Broadcasting Company from 1989, and of University of British Columbia Media Group plc until 1995.
