This is from The Daily Telegraph:-

Robin Nash, who died on June 18 aged 84, produced many popular BBC shows during the postwar television boom, but is perhaps best known for Top Of The Pops, which he ran for nearly 10 years in its 1970s heyday.


In a career spanning almost half a century, he produced every type of light entertainment show, from Basil Brush (1972-75) and Terry and June (1979-87) to the Carla Lane comedy Bread (1987-89).

Remembered by one BBC executive, Will Wyatt, 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 brought an unruffled, old-school style to such shows as The Two Ronnies (1971-87) and The Les Dawson Show (1978).

Invariably dapper, polished, well-mannered and polite, Nash sported a bow-tie, magnificent moustache and something of a military air. When he took over Top Of The Pops in 1974, he deployed an effortless elegance when dealing both with experienced showbusiness stars and with the long-haired rockers and ravers, punks with piercings and tattooed headbangers who mingled with them on the artists' roster each week.
In a world of towering egos, Nash earned profound respect and ruled the show with honesty and professionalism. He knew how to handle the great names of pop, some of whom would scream, shout and swear, but would in the end agree to do what the urbane Nash had suggested in the first place.

As one of the presenters, Tony Blackburn, recalled: "Nash seemed perfectly in tune with the era, forever camping it up with his booming, over-the-top voice."
Nash was proud to have had Bing Crosby perform on Top Of The Pops, on the night that the then prime minister Ted Heath came to the studio just to see the "Old Groaner". On another occasion the Queen was also a visitor to the Top Of The Pops studios.
Proud of his own reputation as a television jack-of-all-trades, Nash was the only BBC executive to have held both the posts of head of variety (until 1981) and of comedy (until 1987).

Robin Nash was born Robert Henry Douglas Drane in Norwich on March 10 1927. As soon as he could, he adopted his mother's maiden name, Nash also being the name of assorted uncles all of whom were involved in showbusiness. Uncle Percy Nash, for example, was directing silent films at Shepperton and ended his days, blinded by the glare of Klieg lights, in a one-room flat in Brighton.

Robin grew up at Cromer, Norfolk, and was proud to have been educated at the Paston School, Lord Nelson's alma mater. His eccentric father worked at the Norwich Union Insurance company, never sitting at his desk, but insisting on standing all day. His mother was involved with amateur productions at the Pier Theatre, Cromer, and encouraged both her children to perform and act.

Anne (Robin's sister, known as Trixie) was a beautiful classical ballerina who became a West End chorus girl in musicals such as Annie Get Your Gun and Oklahoma! before serving in the RAF.

As a teenager during the war, Nash went overseas to entertain the troops, and in India met David Croft. The shows they devised later became the model for Croft's and Jimmy Perry's successful television sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum.

From 1943 Nash worked as an actor and stage director in West End productions of Oklahoma!, Wild Violets, Bob's Your Uncle, The Bird Seller and 1066 And All That.
He joined the BBC in 1952, working in the television service at Alexandra Palace. As a producer in the Sixties and Seventies, Nash worked on such shows as Crackerjack (1955-84), Dixon of Dock Green (1962-72), Meet the Wife (1963-66), Marriage Lines (1964), The Very Merry Widow (1967-69), All Gas And Gaiters (1971), The Generation Game (1971-82) and Blankety Blank (1977-2002).

As such, he was one of light entertainment's busiest producers, often involved in two or three shows at once. Stars such as Thora Hird, Beryl Reid, Dora Bryan and Prunella Scales all adored him.

The writer Carla Lane would not work with anybody else; her 1980s sitcom Bread, about a family of Liverpool scallywags, was a joint effort with Nash and became a highly successful series.

After retiring from the BBC at 60, in 1987, Nash continued as a freelance and produced Goodnight Sweetheart (1993-99) with Nicholas Lyndhurst (who played Rodney in Only Fools and Horses). In the 1990s he also directed the comedian Harry Hill, a newcomer to television.

"During our first rehearsal," Hill recalled, "I didn't want to rehearse my stand-up, because it's embarrassing doing gags over and over again. And Robin just took me to one side and said: 'Listen, you've got to.' He said: 'There's lots of people I've worked with who said exactly what you're saying.' And he gave me the names of these people. And I thought: 'I don't want to end up like them!' And he was absolutely right. It was a brilliant lesson on the first day. I couldn't have met a better person so early on."
A modest man, Nash was never overawed by star names and treated all his artists and crew with the same consideration and respect. As a result he was one of the best-loved figures in television.


Robin Nash is survived by his civil partner, Andrea Corti.



From:-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/8...