Career
Bazalgette joined the BBC News graduate news training scheme, and was subsequently picked by Esther Rantzen as a researcher on "That's Life!" from 1977.
While a reporter at the BBC for "Man Alive," he joined Eric Parsloe's video production company Epic. The BBC put him in charge of producing the programme "Food and Drink," where he claims to have created the celebrity chef. He continued producing by forming his own production company Bazal, which created hits for British TV including Ready Steady Cook, Changing Rooms and Ground Force. In 1990, Bazal was acquired by Broadcast Communications, which itself was absorbed by Endemol.
In January 2005 Bazalgette became Chairman of Endemol UK and Creative Director of Endemol Group worldwide. He was responsible for shows including Big Brother and Deal or No Deal which were hits around the world, and led Endemol's digital entertainment strategy. Although Big Brother was an adaption of an existing series in the Netherlands, Bazalgette is credited with popularising the format around the world thanks to the adaptations he built into the UK version. During Bazalgette's time on the global board, Endemol grew strongly and in 2005 it was launched on the Dutch stock exchange. Over the next eighteen months it trebled in value and was sold in 2007 for €3.2 billion. In September 2007 it was announced that Bazalgette was standing down as Chairman and would assume the role of advisor.
Bazalgette has been awarded fellowships by BAFTA and the Royal Television Society. He is currently President of the Royal Television Society and a Non-Executive Director of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. In September 2012 he was appointed as the next chairman of Arts Council England, with his 4 year term to begin on 31 January 2013.
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