John Gau(1940-2024)

John Gau is an independent television producer. He was educated at Haileybury & ISC, Trinity Hall, Cambridge and the University of Wisconsin. His mother was the actress, Nan Munro. He joined the BBC in 1963 as an assistant film-editor. He moved to BBC TV's Current Affairs Department in 1965, first as a producer on "24 Hours" and then on "Panorama". In 1972 he became deputy editor of "Midweek" and in 1975 Editor of "Nationwide". He was appointed Head of BBC TV's Current Affairs Group in 1978. He left the BBC in 1981 to become an independent TV producer, and set up John Gau Productions with his wife Susan. The company specialised in documentaries and current affairs. John has been a producer and executive producer on a wide range of one-off documentaries and series, both for his own company and for programmes produced by BBC TV, ITV, Channel 4 and PBS. He was the Chairman of the Independent Programme Producers Association from 1983 to 1987 and the Chairman of the Royal Television Society from 1987 to 1991. From 1988 to 1990 he was Head of Programming and Deputy Chief Executive at British Satellite Broadcasting. He was appointed CBE in 1989 for services to broadcasting.