David Ernest Plowright, CBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (11 December 1930, Scunthorpe

Scunthorpe

Scunthorpe is a town within North Lincolnshire, England. It is the administrative centre of the North Lincolnshire unitary authority, and had an estimated total resident population of 72,514 in 2010. A predominantly industrial town, Scunthorpe, the United Kingdom's largest steel processing centre,...

, Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

 – 24 August 2006, Prestbury, Cheshire

Prestbury, Cheshire

Prestbury is a village, civil parish and ecclesiastical parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Prestbury is a long, narrow parish covering 1,165 hectares to the west of the Peak Park foothills and to the east of the sandstone ridge which is...

) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 executive and producer

Television producer

The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...

.

Plowright was educated at Scunthorpe Grammar School. He began his career in journalism as a reporter on the Scunthorpe Star, and was, briefly, the equestrian correspondent of the Yorkshire Post

Yorkshire Post

The Yorkshire Post is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by Yorkshire Post Newspapers, a company owned by Johnston Press...

. He joined Granada Television

Granada Television

Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

 in 1957, and rose to be Controller of Programmes from 1969 to 1979. Plowright succeeded Denis Forman

Denis Forman

Sir Denis Forman is a former executive in the British film and television industry.-Career:Forman was born in 1917 at Cragielands in Dumfries and educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Forman had a distinguished military career during the Second World War and was wounded at Monte Cassino. After...

 to become Chairman of Granada Television in 1987. He was forced out in 1992 by Gerry Robinson

Gerry Robinson

Sir Gerrard Jude "Gerry" Robinson is an Irish businessman. He is the former non-executive Chairman of Allied Domecq and the ex-Chairman/Chief Executive of Granada.-Early life:...

, the new chief executive, which led to John Cleese

John Cleese

John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...

 describing Robinson as an "upstart caterer". Plowright's exit was regarded as a turning point in the process whereby ITV gave profits a bigger priority than programme quality.

At Granada, Plowright was a vigorous defender of the often controversial current affairs programme, World in Action

World in Action

World in Action was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television from 1963 until 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its production teams often took audacious risks and gained a solid reputation for its often...

. Under his leadership, dramas such as Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited (TV serial)

Brideshead Revisited is a 1981 British television serial produced by Granada Television for broadcast by the ITV network. The teleplay is based on Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited...

and The Jewel In The Crown became spectacular successes for the company.

Plowright was the younger brother of actress Dame Joan Plowright

Joan Plowright

Joan Ann Plowright, Baroness Olivier, DBE , better known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English actress, whose career has spanned over sixty years. Throughout her career she has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award and has been nominated for an Academy Award, an Emmy, and two BAFTA Awards...

. He married Brenda Key in 1953. She survives him, as do their son and two daughters.

External links

• David Plowright obituary from The Daily Telegraph
  The Daily Telegraph
  The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...