Colin Adams was a British

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

executive. In the 1990s he was the Head of Northern Broadcasting at the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, before in 1997 he was appointed as the Corporation's Head of Television Drama. Adams was chosen for the position despite having no background in drama programming, but the Corporation was eager to appoint somebody to the position which had not had a full-time occupant since the previous year, when Charles Denton had left.

Career

In the meantime the job had been taken on a caretaker basis by first Ruth Caleb (Head of Drama at

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

) and then

Alan Yentob Alan Yentob (11 March 1947 – 24 May 2025) was an English television executive and presenter. He held senior roles at the BBC, including head of music and arts, controller of BBC1 and BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadca ...

(Director of Television). Adams had initially been brought in to assist Yentob in running the department in an administrative capacity, which eventually led to his being offered the full-time post. The department had been affected by the critical reception to many expensive projects such as ''Rhodes'' and the departure of senior producers such as

Michael Wearing Michael Howard Wearing (12 March 1939 – 5 May 2017) was a British television producer, who spent much of his career working on drama productions for the BBC. He is best known as the producer of the well received serials ''Boys from the Blackstuff ...

, and many more drama-related producers were reluctant to take the previously highly coveted position. Adams' appointment was not a particularly popular one with the drama staff, as he was seen as more of an administrator than a creative force. He occupied the post for three years, until 2000.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people BBC executives British television producers {{BBC-stub