Peter Bazalgette

Peter Bazalgette

Sir Peter Lytton "Baz" Bazalgette (born on 22 May 1953) is a British television producer who helped to create the independent TV production sector in the United Kingdom, and went on to be the leading creative figure in the global TV company Endemol. The Independent has argued that he may be "the most influential man in British television" as a result of his impact on the development of reality television and lifestyle TV programmes. The Daily Mail named him as one of the "Ten Worst Britons" for Endemol's Channel 4 show Big Brother. The London Evening Standard television critic Victor Lewis-Smith says that Bazalgette has "done more to debase television over the past decade than anyone else." He was knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to broadcasting.

In September 2012, it was announced that he would succeed Dame Elizabeth Forgan as Chair of the Arts Council England.