Giant of television programming, Brian Tesler

It was a time when the cultural elite at the BBC were sniffy about the newly emerging world of commercial television. Networks that brought in the revenue were dismissed as likely to be vulgar and tawdry, offering poor programmes, cheap commercial breaks and patchy national coverage. It was 1955 and ATV was a rising star, with impresarios Lew Grade and Val Parnell looking to extend their entertainment franchise.

So when Brian Tesler, a successful young BBC executive, suddenly decided to leave the national broadcaster on being refused a modest pay rise, Lew Grade offered him a three year contract at double his BBC salary, plus an annual two week business trip to New York to study American TV. It was a gig hard to turn down.

He had his own qualms about leaving the BBC, which his bosses haughtily regarded as “a reward in itself.” He felt his future there held plenty of attractive production prospects.] At the time he was in the middle of the first season of Ask Pickles, a popular television vehicle for the radio star Wilfred Pickles. He shared colleagues’ ideas that “working in the cut-throat commercial world ”was repugnant to him. But the move would prove a pivotal moment, not only in securing his own future, but because it heralded the new world of independent programming satellite and cable channels into whose orbit so many leading entertainment personalities would be drawn.

As a producer at the BBC and ATV he helped to launch or develop the careers of Roy Castle, Bob Monkhouse, Bruce Forsyth, Wilfred Pickles and Billy Cotton, and produced Saturday Spectacular shows built round such stars as Harry Secombe, Dave King, Dickie Henderson Jr, Max Bygraves, Arthur Askey, Frankie Howerd, Benny Hill, and Norman Wisdom.

Brian Tesler, who has died aged 95, was softly spoken, good humoured and modest. He told an interviewer three years ago, in a surprisingly youthful voice, that he attributed his success to being “a lucky guy”. He mapped his work in TV and his personal life, with its East End origins, in two books, The Best of Times (2006) the story of his professional career, and Before I Forget,(2012) a personal description of life with his family in the vibrant East End Jewish community, growing up between the wars, immersed as he was in radio, theatre and music hall.

He was lucky, he said, because, after graduating on a scholarship from Oxford, he only applied for one job – at the BBC – the rest followed naturally.

One of the last survivors of the TV pioneering generation, Tesler helped form the foundation of TV entertainment. He was a leading figure in broadcasting from the 1950s until his retirement in 1994.

Tesler was born in Stepney, east London to David, who had reached England from Ukraine in 1916, and established a millinery business, and Esther Hyman who was born in Mile End in East London. Her parents had emigrated from Russia in about 1893. Her father was a baker.[3]

Tesler attended Chiswick County School for Boys in West London, known for its academic excellence and freedom from antisemitism. Among its extra-curricular activities he was most attracted to its drama opportunities, which included music hall and variety shows. He began visiting London theatres, and began to develop a keen interest in show business , which he later recognised as a major driver to his future career in light entertainment.[5]

At school he found two mentors. One teacher nurtured his love of English literature and encouraged him to take an English degree at Oxford University. The other developed his interest in the theatre and cast him in prominent roles in the school plays.

.[6] He won a scholarship to Exeter College, Oxford to read English, to be taken up after his two-year National Service in the Army.[1][7][8]

There he became involved with producing revues and cabarets and contributing to the student newspaper, Isis, and was president of the experimental theatre club. He also sang with the university jazz club and wrote songs with composer Stanley Myers. Despite his tutors’ concern over the amount of time he spent on show business, he graduated in English in 1952 with a First Class Honours Degree, the highest marks in his year, and the dons doffed their mortar boards to him in admiration.

In 1952 Tesler went to the BBC straight from university, but at his initial interview he had no qualms about rejecting the openings in news and current affairs on offer. No. It was light entertainment he wanted. About to be shown the door, his casual reference to having had two songs broadcast on BBC changed everything. The intrepid 23 year old was offered a six months trial as a trainee Light Entertainment producer. His first television production, which he also directed, was a musical show called Starlight starring Pat Kirkwood singing and dancing to the music of Eric Robinson's orchestra.[1] It was transmitted on 2 January 1953.[11] Tesler followed this with similar programmes starring Joyce Grenfell[12] and the singing duo Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson.[13]

In 1959 Brian Tesler married Audrey Maclean, his former PA, and they had a son, Simon.

Moving to ABC as Director of Programmes , he launched Tempo, ITV’s first weekly arts series which pre-empted the South Bank Show. He hired the critic Kenneth Tynan as series editor. Then came British TV’s first late-night chat show, presented by Eamonn Andrews, its first ‘prank’ show with Candid Camera and World of Sport, a previous monopoly of the BBC. He was responsible for the first British television shows with Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra, and for the revival of the TV talent show with Opportunity Knocks. Within a decade of leaving the BBC, Tesler’s popularity within the industry grew, and he was regarded as TV’s new whizz kid, elegantly dresed and always tanned. He became one of the most prolific television executives in Britain.

In 1968 Brian was promoted to Director of Programmes for the newly established Thames Television as ATV disbanded and was franchised out to regional independent broadcasting companies throughout Britain He became head of the new London ITV station Thames Television that year and his creative and scheduling skills were highly reputed. He was considered a giant within the TV fraternity,

Such dramas at Thames followed, from Callan to Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill, from The Benny Hill Show to An Evening with Jack Benny, from This Week to The World at War, from Father, Dear Father to Man About the House.

In 1976 Tesler was appointed managing director of London Weekend Television, LWT, introducing Michael Grade as his successor as programme director In 1982 Tesler became a founding executive of Channel Four, remaining on the board of directors for three years , guiding the network through its formative years. John Birt, LWT’s features head moved to the BBC in 1987, and Tesler introduced Greg Dyke to replace him as programme director. Dyke became managing director at LWT in 1990 and Tesler remained as chairman until his retirement two years later.

Asked for his advice to those who might follow in his footsteps, he said: “Be lucky. Look out for other peoples’ talents, Look, listen and learn. Use your own imagination and ideas”.

Tributes to Brian Tesler came from Lords Birt, Bragg, Dyke and Grade. He is survived by his son, Simon. Audrey predeceased him in 2008.

Brian Tesler: born February 19, 1929. Died October 30, 2024