David Hatch
Encyclopedia
Sir David Hatch was involved in production and management at BBC Radio
, where he held many executive positions, including Head of Light Entertainment (Radio), Controller of BBC Radio 2
and BBC Radio 4
and later Managing Director of BBC Radio.
, and joined the Cambridge Footlights
Club. He was a member of the cast of the 1963 Footlights revue A Clump of Plinths, which was so successful during its run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that the revue transferred to the West End
of London
under the title of Cambridge Circus
and later taken on tour to both New Zealand
and Broadway
in September 1964. Hatch was later a student teacher at Bloxham School
, Oxfordshire
.
production of Cambridge Circus
, titled I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
, launched many of the show's cast, including Hatch, into a radio comedy series of the same name
. Meanwhile he was responsible for the radio versions of Doctor in the House, Doctor at Large, Brothers in Law and All Gas and Gaiters
. Hatch co-devised the satirical show Week Ending
and produced other comedy radio shows such as Just a Minute
, Hello, Cheeky!
, The Burkiss Way
, Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves
, The Frankie Howerd Show
(1974), and I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
.
Some of these overlapped with his earlier executive positions in the BBC: Radio Network Editor, BBC Manchester 1974-78; Head of Light Entertainment (Radio), BBC 1978-80; Controller, BBC Radio 2
1980-83; Controller, BBC Radio 4
1983-86; Director of Programmes, BBC Radio (later Network Radio, BBC) 1986-87, Managing Director 1987-93; Vice-Chairman, BBC Enterprises 1987-93; Adviser to the Director-General, BBC 1993-95. In 1990 he created the original Radio 5
.
(2000-4) for England and Wales, for which he was knighted
in 2003. In the later role he caused consternation in some quarters in 2003 for describing Tony Martin
, the farmer convicted of manslaughter, as a "very dangerous man" in a Times
interview.
Hatch was also the chairman of SSVC (the Services Sound and Vision Corporation
) between 1999 and 2004. After retiring he retained the position of Life Vice-President on the SSVC Board of Trustees. SSVC operates many facilities on behalf of the MoD
including BFBS Radio and TV.
Hatch was a Fellow of The Radio Academy
.
, and a Radio 4 Archive Hour (2006) celebration of the BBC's Broadcasting House
building in London
.
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
, where he held many executive positions, including Head of Light Entertainment (Radio), Controller of BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
and BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
and later Managing Director of BBC Radio.
Education
He attended St John's School, Leatherhead and Queens' College, CambridgeQueens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...
, and joined the Cambridge Footlights
Footlights
Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University....
Club. He was a member of the cast of the 1963 Footlights revue A Clump of Plinths, which was so successful during its run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that the revue transferred to the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
under the title of Cambridge Circus
Cambridge Footlights Revue
The Cambridge Footlights Revue is an annual revue by the Footlights Club - a group of comic writer-performers at the University of Cambridge. Two of the more notable revues are detailed below.-"A Clump of Plinths" — "Cambridge Circus":...
and later taken on tour to both New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in September 1964. Hatch was later a student teacher at Bloxham School
Bloxham School
Bloxham School is an independent co-educational day and boarding school located in the village of Bloxham, three miles from the town of Banbury in Oxfordshire, England. It was founded in 1860 by the Reverend Philip Reginald Egerton and has since become a member of the Woodard Corporation...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
.
BBC work
A BBC RadioBBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
production of Cambridge Circus
Cambridge Footlights Revue
The Cambridge Footlights Revue is an annual revue by the Footlights Club - a group of comic writer-performers at the University of Cambridge. Two of the more notable revues are detailed below.-"A Clump of Plinths" — "Cambridge Circus":...
, titled I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again was a BBC radio comedy programme which originated from the Cambridge University Footlights revue Cambridge Circus...
, launched many of the show's cast, including Hatch, into a radio comedy series of the same name
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again was a BBC radio comedy programme which originated from the Cambridge University Footlights revue Cambridge Circus...
. Meanwhile he was responsible for the radio versions of Doctor in the House, Doctor at Large, Brothers in Law and All Gas and Gaiters
All Gas and Gaiters
All Gas and Gaiters was a British television ecclesiastical sitcom which aired on BBC1 from 1966 to 1971. It was written by Pauline Devaney and Edwin Apps, a husband-and-wife team who used the pseudonym of "John Wraith" when writing the pilot...
. Hatch co-devised the satirical show Week Ending
Week Ending
Week Ending... was a satirical radio current affairs sketch show, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4, usually on Friday evenings. It was devised by writer/producers Simon Brett and David Hatch, and was originally hosted by Nationwide presenter Michael Barratt.The show's title was always announced as...
and produced other comedy radio shows such as Just a Minute
Just a Minute
Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game chaired by Nicholas Parsons. Its first transmission on Radio 4 was on 22 December 1967, three months after the station's launch. The Radio 4 programme won a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award in 2003....
, Hello, Cheeky!
Hello, Cheeky!
Hello Cheeky was a series broadcast on BBC Radio 2 between 1973 and 1979. It was written and performed by Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer, and John Junkin, with music by the Denis King Trio, and produced by David Hatch, Richard Willcox, and Bob Oliver Rogers.There were also three Christmas...
, The Burkiss Way
The Burkiss Way
The Burkiss Way was a BBC Radio 4 sketch comedy series broadcast from August 1976 to November 1980. It was written by Andrew Marshall and David Renwick, with additional material in early episodes by John Mason, Colin Bostock-Smith, Douglas Adams, John Lloyd and others. The show starred Denise...
, Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, published in the United States on March 22, 1963 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, and in the United Kingdom on August 16, 1963 by Herbert Jenkins, London...
, The Frankie Howerd Show
Frankie Howerd
Francis Alick "Frankie" Howerd OBE was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as "a series of comebacks", spanned six decades.-Early career:...
(1974), and I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or Clue, is a BBC radio comedy panel game broadcast since 11 April 1972 at the rate of one or two series each year , transmitted on BBC Radio 4, with occasional repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC's World Service...
.
Some of these overlapped with his earlier executive positions in the BBC: Radio Network Editor, BBC Manchester 1974-78; Head of Light Entertainment (Radio), BBC 1978-80; Controller, BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
1980-83; Controller, BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
1983-86; Director of Programmes, BBC Radio (later Network Radio, BBC) 1986-87, Managing Director 1987-93; Vice-Chairman, BBC Enterprises 1987-93; Adviser to the Director-General, BBC 1993-95. In 1990 he created the original Radio 5
BBC Radio 5 (former)
BBC Radio 5 was a BBC radio network that carried sport, children's and educational programmes.It was transmitted via analogue radio on 693 and 909 kHz, and lasted for three years and eight months. The success of BBC Radio 4's coverage of the Gulf War, on a service known as Scud FM,...
.
Later career
Hatch left the Corporation and became Chairman of the National Consumer Council (1996–2000) and later of the Parole BoardParole Board
A parole board is a panel of people who decide whether an offender should be released from prison on parole after serving at least a minimum portion of their sentence as prescribed by the sentencing judge. Parole boards are used in many jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and the United...
(2000-4) for England and Wales, for which he was knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in 2003. In the later role he caused consternation in some quarters in 2003 for describing Tony Martin
Tony Martin (farmer)
Anthony Edward "Tony" Martin is a farmer from Norfolk, England, who in 1999 killed one burglar and wounded another who had both entered his home...
, the farmer convicted of manslaughter, as a "very dangerous man" in a Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
interview.
Hatch was also the chairman of SSVC (the Services Sound and Vision Corporation
Services Sound and Vision Corporation
The Services Sound and Vision Corporation is a British registered charity. Set up in the 1980s to "entertain and inform Britain's Armed Forces around the world", its activities include the British Forces Broadcasting Service with its radio and television operations, SSVC Cinemas, the British...
) between 1999 and 2004. After retiring he retained the position of Life Vice-President on the SSVC Board of Trustees. SSVC operates many facilities on behalf of the MoD
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
including BFBS Radio and TV.
Hatch was a Fellow of The Radio Academy
Radio Academy
The Radio Academy is a registered charity that is dedicated to 'the encouragement, recognition and promotion of excellence in UK broadcasting and audio production'....
.
Presenting
Hatch was regular chairman of radio panel quiz game Wireless Wise (1999–2003), made for Radio 4 by Testbed Productions, and presented or spoken in other programmes which included an edition of Radio Heads (2003), a three-hour omnibus collection of his radio programmes on BBC 7BBC 7
BBC Radio 4 Extra, formerly known as BBC 7 and BBC Radio 7, is a British digital radio station broadcasting comedy, drama, and children's programming nationally 24 hours a day. It is the principal broadcasting outlet for the BBC's archive of spoken-word entertainment...
, and a Radio 4 Archive Hour (2006) celebration of the BBC's Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House is the headquarters and registered office of the BBC in Portland Place and Langham Place, London.The building includes the BBC Radio Theatre from where music and speech programmes are recorded in front of a studio audience...
building in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
External links
- David Hatch at the Internet Broadway DatabaseInternet Broadway DatabaseThe Internet Broadway Database is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community....
- Radio performer Hatch dies at 68 BBC News
- The Independent Obituary