Robin Nash
Encyclopedia
Robert Henry Douglas Drane, known professionally as Robin Nash (10 March 1927-18 June 2011), was a British television
producer and executive, who was probably best known as producer of Top of the Pops
from 1974 to 1981. At the BBC
, he became Head of Variety
and later Head of Television Comedy.
and grew up in Cromer
on the north Norfolk
coast. His initial theatrical training was as a young member of Miss Alexander's dance group at the Lecture Hall in the town. Often the only boy in the group, he was therefore sure of a place in their productions at the local venues. A fellow dancer was his sister Anne (Lewin), a ballerina and West End dancer who would later become a Wing Commander in the Royal Air Force. His secondary education was at The Paston School, North Walsham
(whose most distinguished former pupil was Horatio Nelson). As a teenager during the Second World War he entertained allied troops and met David Croft
who later wrote Dad's Army
and It Ain't Half Hot Mum
for the BBC.
After a series of acting and other theatrical jobs in London
's West End
, Nash joined the BBC as a studio manager in 1955. In 1961 he directed location filming for Ted Willis
's thriller Flowers of Evil and, in 1962-3, worked on two of Willis's other creations, the long-running police drama Dixon of Dock Green
and the comedy series Taxi! starring Sid James
.
Succeeding situation comedies included Marriage Lines
(as producer from 1965), which, since 1961, had brought Richard Briers
and Prunella Scales
to a wide audience, and the Comedy Playhouse
pilot (1967) for a series of The Old Campaigner with Terry-Thomas
, Jonathan Cecil
and Elaine Taylor
among others. Nash also worked during this period with Alan Melville on Before the Fringe (re-enacting sketches from past theatrical revues, 1967), Beryl Reid
(Beryl Reid Says Good Evening, 1968) and Dora Bryan
(According to Dora, 1968).
, whom Nash succeeded. During this period TOTP regularly attracted audiences of 15 million. Concurrently, Nash produced for children's television The Basil Brush Show (featuring Derek Fowlds
and a garrulous puppet fox
, 1972-5) and the variety show Crackerjack (1975-7), and worked with Bruce Forsyth
and then Larry Grayson
on The Generation Game
(from 1976). In 1978 he became Head of Variety at the BBC.
In the 1980s Nash produced such comedy shows as Terry and June
(with Terry Scott
and June Whitfield
, 1985) and Carla Lane
's I Woke Up One Morning (1985-6) and Bread
(1986–91). He was appointed Head of Television Comedy in 1989, moving three years later into work for production companies, including Alomo's sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart
for the BBC (1993-9) and Harry Hill
's series for Channel 4
(1998–2000).
. Tony Blackburn
, one of many TOTP presenters, recalled that he "seemed perfectly in tune with the [1970s] era, forever camping
it up with his booming, over-the-top voice." A fellow BBC executive, Will Wyatt
, described him as "a big, warm, cuddly bear of a man with an easy charm at work and a huge collection of Clarice Cliff
pottery at home".
Nash regretted that the use of recording and editing techniques detracted from the sense of "performance" that could be achieved from live television and once said that he would "love Top of the Pops to be live" (rather as its forerunner and then competitor Ready Steady Go!
had been during the period that Cathy McGowan
presented it in the mid sixties).
In his later years Nash occasionally contributed to documentaries about the history of television. He died on 18 June 2011, aged 84, during a season of repeats on BBC Four
of editions of Top of the Pops that he had produced in 1976 and the day after the funeral of Flick Colby
who had choreographed dance sequences for the show with, among others, Pan's People
and Ruby Flipper
.
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
producer and executive, who was probably best known as producer of Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
from 1974 to 1981. At the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, he became Head of Variety
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
and later Head of Television Comedy.
Background and early career
Nash was born in NorwichNorwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
and grew up in Cromer
Cromer
Cromer is a coastal town and civil parish in north Norfolk, England. The local government authority is North Norfolk District Council, whose headquarters is in Holt Road in the town. The town is situated 23 miles north of the county town, Norwich, and is 4 miles east of Sheringham...
on the north Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
coast. His initial theatrical training was as a young member of Miss Alexander's dance group at the Lecture Hall in the town. Often the only boy in the group, he was therefore sure of a place in their productions at the local venues. A fellow dancer was his sister Anne (Lewin), a ballerina and West End dancer who would later become a Wing Commander in the Royal Air Force. His secondary education was at The Paston School, North Walsham
North Walsham
North Walsham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England in the North Norfolk district.-Demographics:The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 11,998. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of North...
(whose most distinguished former pupil was Horatio Nelson). As a teenager during the Second World War he entertained allied troops and met David Croft
David Croft
Major David John Croft, OBE was an English writer, producer and director...
who later wrote Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
and It Ain't Half Hot Mum
It Ain't Half Hot Mum
It Ain't Half Hot Mum was a British sitcom about the adventures of a Royal Artillery Concert Party, broadcast on the BBC between 1974 and 1981, and written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, the creators of Dad's Army...
for the BBC.
After a series of acting and other theatrical jobs in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's West End
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
, Nash joined the BBC as a studio manager in 1955. In 1961 he directed location filming for Ted Willis
Ted Willis
Edward Henry Willis, Baron Willis , commonly known as Ted Willis, was a British television dramatist who was also politically active in support of the Labour Party.-Political life:...
's thriller Flowers of Evil and, in 1962-3, worked on two of Willis's other creations, the long-running police drama Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:...
and the comedy series Taxi! starring Sid James
Sid James
Sid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
.
Succeeding situation comedies included Marriage Lines
Marriage Lines
Marriage Lines was a popular black-and-white British sitcom that aired from 1961 to 1966 which launched the careers of its lead stars, Richard Briers and Prunella Scales. It was originally entitled The Marriage Lines...
(as producer from 1965), which, since 1961, had brought Richard Briers
Richard Briers
Richard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a...
and Prunella Scales
Prunella Scales
Prunella Scales CBE is an English actress, known for her role as Basil Fawlty's long-suffering wife in the British comedy Fawlty Towers and her award-nominated role as Queen Elizabeth II in the British film A Question of Attribution.-Career:Throughout her long career, Scales has usually been cast...
to a wide audience, and the Comedy Playhouse
Comedy Playhouse
Comedy Playhouse was a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 120 episodes from 1961 to 1975. Many episodes later graduated to their own series, including Steptoe and Son, Till Death Us Do Part, All Gas and Gaiters, The Liver Birds, Are You Being Served?...
pilot (1967) for a series of The Old Campaigner with Terry-Thomas
Terry-Thomas
Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens was a distinctive English comic actor, known as Terry-Thomas. He was famous for his portrayal of disreputable members of the upper classes, especially cads and toffs, with the trademark gap in his front teeth, cigarette holder, smoking jacket, and catch-phrases such as...
, Jonathan Cecil
Jonathan Cecil
Jonathan Hugh Gascoyne-Cecil , more commonly known as Jonathan Cecil, was an English theatre, film and television actor.-Early life:...
and Elaine Taylor
Elaine Taylor (actress)
Elaine Regina Taylor is an English-born actress, best known as a leading lady in comedy films of the late 1960s and early 70s. She is married to the Canadian actor Christopher Plummer.-Early life:...
among others. Nash also worked during this period with Alan Melville on Before the Fringe (re-enacting sketches from past theatrical revues, 1967), Beryl Reid
Beryl Reid
Beryl Elizabeth Reid, OBE was a British actress of stage and screen.-Early life:Born in Hereford, England in 1919, Reid was the daughter of Scottish parents and grew up in Manchester where she attended Withington and Levenshulme High Schools.-Career:Reid applied for and was accepted in a revue in...
(Beryl Reid Says Good Evening, 1968) and Dora Bryan
Dora Bryan
Dora May Bryan OBE is an English actress of stage, film and television.-Early life:Bryan was born as Dora May Broadbent in Southport, Lancashire, England. Her father was a salesman and she attended Hathershaw County Primary School in Oldham, Lancashire...
(According to Dora, 1968).
1970s and 1980s
From 1973-81 Nash was producer (later executive producer) of Top of the Pops, the weekly chart-based popular music show created in 1964 by Johnnie StewartJohnnie Stewart
Lorn Alastair Stewart was a television producer who worked for the BBC, noted mostly for his role in creating the long-running music programme Top of the Pops.- Early life and career :...
, whom Nash succeeded. During this period TOTP regularly attracted audiences of 15 million. Concurrently, Nash produced for children's television The Basil Brush Show (featuring Derek Fowlds
Derek Fowlds
Derek Fowlds is an English actor, known for playing Bernard Woolley in popular British television comedies Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister and Oscar Blaketon in the long-running ITV police drama Heartbeat....
and a garrulous puppet fox
Fox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
, 1972-5) and the variety show Crackerjack (1975-7), and worked with Bruce Forsyth
Bruce Forsyth
Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson, CBE , commonly known as Bruce Forsyth, or Brucie, is an English TV personality...
and then Larry Grayson
Larry Grayson
Larry Grayson , born William Sulley White, was an English stand-up comedian and television presenter of the 1970s and early 80s...
on The Generation Game
The Generation Game
The Generation Game was a British gameshow produced by the BBC in which four teams of two competed to win prizes...
(from 1976). In 1978 he became Head of Variety at the BBC.
In the 1980s Nash produced such comedy shows as Terry and June
Terry and June
Terry and June is a British sitcom that was broadcast on BBC1 from 1979 to 1987. The programme is largely a continuation of Happy Ever After, and stars Terry Scott and June Whitfield as a middle-class suburban couple, Terry and June Medford...
(with Terry Scott
Terry Scott
Owen John "Terry" Scott was an English actor and comedian who appeared in seven Carry On films. He also appeared in BBC1's popular domestic sitcom Terry and June with June Whitfield...
and June Whitfield
June Whitfield
June Rosemary Whitfield, CBE is an English actress, well known in the United Kingdom since the 1950s for roles in radio and television comedy series....
, 1985) and Carla Lane
Carla Lane
Carla Lane, OBE is an English television writer responsible for many successful sitcoms, including The Liver Birds , Butterflies , and Bread ....
's I Woke Up One Morning (1985-6) and Bread
Bread (TV series)
Bread was a British television sitcom, written by Carla Lane, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC1 from 1 May 1986 to 3 November 1991....
(1986–91). He was appointed Head of Television Comedy in 1989, moving three years later into work for production companies, including Alomo's sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight Sweetheart is a sitcom that ran for six series on BBC1 from 1993 to 1999. It stars Nicholas Lyndhurst as Gary Sparrow, an accidental time traveller who leads a double life after discovering a time portal allowing him to travel between the London of the 1990s and the same area during the...
for the BBC (1993-9) and Harry Hill
Harry Hill
Harry Hill , is a Perrier Award–winning English comedian, author and television presenter. A former medical doctor , Hill began his career in comedy with the popular radio show Harry Hill's Fruit Corner.-Personal life:Hill was born in Woking,...
's series for Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
(1998–2000).
Demeanour and approach
With his background in the BBC's "old school", Nash was a dapper and quite flamboyant figure, recognisible by his jaunty bow-ties and moustacheMoustache
A moustache is facial hair grown on the outer surface of the upper lip. It may or may not be accompanied by a type of beard, a facial hair style grown and cropped to cover most of the lower half of the face.-Etymology:...
. Tony Blackburn
Tony Blackburn
Tony Blackburn is an English disc jockey, who broadcast on the "pirate" stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s and was the first disc jockey to broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in 1967. In 2002 he was the winner of the ITV reality TV programme I'm a Celebrity.....
, one of many TOTP presenters, recalled that he "seemed perfectly in tune with the [1970s] era, forever camping
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
it up with his booming, over-the-top voice." A fellow BBC executive, Will Wyatt
Will Wyatt
Will Wyatt is a British media consultant and company director, formerly a journalist, television producer and senior executive at the BBC. His career began in 1964 as a trainee journalist on the Sheffield Telegraph newspaper, before moving to the BBC in 1965 as a sub-editor in BBC radio news...
, described him as "a big, warm, cuddly bear of a man with an easy charm at work and a huge collection of Clarice Cliff
Clarice Cliff
Clarice Cliff was an English ceramic industrial artist active from 1922 to 1963.Cliff was born in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, England.- Early life :...
pottery at home".
Nash regretted that the use of recording and editing techniques detracted from the sense of "performance" that could be achieved from live television and once said that he would "love Top of the Pops to be live" (rather as its forerunner and then competitor Ready Steady Go!
Ready Steady Go!
Ready Steady Go! or simply RSG! was one of the UK's first rock/pop music TV programmes. It was conceived by Elkan Allan, head of Rediffusion TV. Allan was assisted by record producer/talent manager Vicki Wickham, who became the producer. It was broadcast from August 1963 until December 1966...
had been during the period that Cathy McGowan
Cathy McGowan
Cathy McGowan is a British broadcaster and journalist, presenter from 1964-6 of Rediffusion television’s rock music show, Ready Steady Go!-Ready Steady Go!:...
presented it in the mid sixties).
In his later years Nash occasionally contributed to documentaries about the history of television. He died on 18 June 2011, aged 84, during a season of repeats on BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
of editions of Top of the Pops that he had produced in 1976 and the day after the funeral of Flick Colby
Flick Colby
Flick Colby was an American dancer and choreographer best known for being a founder member and the choreographer of the United Kingdom dance troupe Pan's People which was a fixture on the BBC 1 chart show Top of the Pops from 1968 to 1976.Born in Hazelton, Pennsylvania, her father was Thomas E...
who had choreographed dance sequences for the show with, among others, Pan's People
Pan's People
Pan's People were a British TV dance troupe, who are usually associated with the BBC TV music chart show Top of the Pops.In an era before pop videos, they danced to songs whose original artists were not available to perform them live...
and Ruby Flipper
Ruby Flipper
Ruby Flipper were a multiracial, mixed-sex dance troupe who performed dance routines to songs in the UK Singles Chart on the BBC television series Top of the Pops in 1976.-Members:...
.