Stuart Prebble (born 15 April 1951) is Chairman of Storyvault Films, and is a former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

, Granada Sky Broadcasting and of

ITV Digital ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network. Its main shareholders were Carlton Communications plc and Granada plc, owners o ...

Life

Prebble was educated at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

, where he was editor of student newspaper '' The Courier'' and later president of the

students' union A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...

. After leaving university he was producer and editor of the ''

World In Action ''World in Action'' was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television for ITV from 7 January 1963 until 7 December 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its producti ...

'' current affairs series and went on to be Head of Factual Programmes at

Granada TV ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

and Controller of Factual Programmes for the ITV network. He was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for Best Factual Series for ''World in Action'' and won the RTS "best factual series" award for Network First. He was promoted to CEO of ITV in April, 2001, after ITV struggled to find a replacement CEO for well over a year. In March 2002 he was CEO of

when it was forced into administration. In 2000, Prebble had agreed to pay £315 million over three years for TV rights to the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

, but low user penetration, a conflict over carriage rights with

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

and high debt led ITV Digital's parent investors to walk away. In Autumn 2002 he left ITV to set up an independent television production company based in London and the North East called ''Liberty Bell''. The company produced a wide range of factual programmes for all of the UK terrestrial broadcasters. He was the executive producer and writer of the 2003 - 2004 '' Grumpy Old Men'' series for

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

. There were three series of ''Grumpy Old Men'', and his company also made several series ''Grumpy Old Women'' which also became a successful touring stage show. Other TV productions for Liberty Bell have included ''3 Men in a Boat'' for BBC2, ''Why We Went to War'' for More4, '' The Alastair Campbell Diaries'' for BBC2, and ''Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory'' for Channel 4. Prebble eventually sold Liberty Bell Productions to Avalon and in summer of 2011 he left to set up another TV production company, StoryVault Films. Among the company's productions are "Portrait Artist of the Year" and "Landscape Artist of the Year" series for Sky Arts Prebble is the author of eleven published books. These include two early novels, ''A Power in the Land'', and ''The Lazarus File'', as well as five comedy books on "Grumpy" themes. ''Secrets of the Conqueror'', which is about the Falklands and the Cold War, was published by Faber in October 2012. His novel ''The Insect Farm'' was published by Alma Books in the UK in March 2015, and in the US by Mulholland Books in July 2015. He is the co-author of "Black and Blue" with Parm Sandhu, who was the most senior female BAME officer when she retired from the Met in 2019.

Personal life

Barbara Gifford (m1973-d1978); Marilyn Charlton (m1978-d2020); Samantha Richards (m2020-

References

External links

Biography on Liberty Bell site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prebble, Stuart 1951 births Living people Alumni of Newcastle University British student newspaper editors British television executives ITV people