Education
University of Reading.
University of Reading.
He is the father of the dance-popular singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor. After education at Shene Grammar School in Richmond, Surrey, England, and at the University of Reading, he joined Thames Television and then the British Broadcasting Corporation, where he produced and directed documentaries, including the RTS award winning film on blind parents and entertainment programmes, including That"s Life!. During this time he also made popular promotion videos for such bands as Bad Manners, Bow Wow Wow, Adam Ant and Buckinghamshire Fizz.
In the early 1990s, he became head of arts at TWI before joining the Manitoba Alive group.
He directed Edward on Edward, a documentary in which Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, told about King Edward VIII. As director of programmes for Ardent, he steered the company to its first profit, but left to pursue other projects, including films with Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, and Paul McCartney. He directed the cult short film Norfolk Coast, featuring Susannah York and Jean Jacques Burnel.
He is majority shareholder of the Soho post production business Vivid, responsible for programmes on the England Football team, Test cricket and Fulham Football Club as well as many arts subjects.}
Robin also directed his daughter"s Digital Video Disc Watch My Lips. Bextor has also had a successful career as a writer, writing for newspapers and magazines and the book to accompany the television series Crown and Country.
The relationships built working with Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton over many years led to the publication of Paul McCartney Now & Then in 2004, and Eric Clapton Now & Then in 2006.
He is also a director of Glyndebourne Productions in East Sussex specialising in films about opera. In 2013 he directed a six part television series on London with specials on the London Underground, Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. He also wrote The Story of the London Underground published that same year.
(GU2) The following year he produced and directed Glyndebourne:the Untold History (90 mins) for British Broadcasting Corporation television He also wrote and directed a four part music series The Sound of the 60"s, and a book of the series published the same year.
He was a board member of the Brighton-based theatre company dreamthinkspeak.