Cowgill, Coleman and Grandstand

Abstract

The BBC’s outside broadcast department employed some indomitable people, none more so than producer-director Bryan Cowgill, known across the department as ‘Ginger’ but according to some, never to his face. The nickname was inspired by his complexion, but reflected his fiery temper when things were not up to his impeccable standards. As he once remarked, ‘I only employ the best’, from cameramen to commentators, whom he pushed to produce their optimum work in every programme he directed.¹ This chapter focuses on Cowgill’s role in helping to devise, and then enrich, what became the BBC’s flagship live sports programme, Grandstand. The programme was launched in the autumn of 1958 and was inspired by the BBC’s coverage of the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff in the summer of the same year. Central to Cowgill’s success in making the live magazine sports programme work was its presenter David Coleman. The two men became closely associated as the driving force of the BBC’s sports output and its high professional standards. They were a similar age, shared similar provincial roots, had backgrounds in journalism and were dedicated to developing a new brand of professionalism in broadcast sport. Where did these motivations for high standards and professionalism in broadcasting come from? Why did these two men have such an impact on how the BBC went about their business of covering sport? What has been the legacy of their contribution to Grandstand and the BBC?