Bryan Cowgill: Combative television executive who launched 'Match of the Day'

Bryan Cowgill, who launched Match of the Day in August 1964, was a television executive who was good at making headlines – often as a result of his combative style.

As the BBC's Head of Sport, he set the enduring football programme going after negotiating with the Football League to record a selected match and screen 45 minutes of highlights the same evening. On the newly launched BBC2, Liverpool vs Arsenal, with Kenneth Wolstenholme as the commentator, was watched by 20,000 viewers.

Two years later, Match of the Day moved to BBC1 and became a popular part of mainstream television. During the 1966 World Cup, Cowgill introduced the action replay into televised sport, allowing viewers to see crucial moments again. Slow-motion replays followed in 1971.

After a stint as controller of BBC1 (1974-77), Cowgill became Managing Director of Thames Television (1977-85), one of ITV's leading programme-making companies. Although he was not involved in the attempt by Michael Grade, then London Weekend Television's Director of Programmes, to secure exclusive Football League highlights – eventually vetoed by the Office of Fair Trading – he did try to outbid his former BBC bosses in 1985 to screen episodes of the hugely popular American soap opera Dallas.

Not only had Cowgill surprised the BBC by entering into secret negotiations with the distributor of Dallas, Worldvision, in which he offered £55,000 per episode – double that paid by the BBC – but he infuriated bosses of other ITV companies, who pointed out that he had broken a gentlemen's agreement not to poach programmes bought from abroad by its rival channel. Criticised by the Independent Broadcasting Authority, Cowgill was forced to resign.

However, his departure signalled the end of an era during which he had presided over some of the finest drama series made by Thames Television, such as Edward and Mrs Simpson and John Mortimer's Rumpole of the Bailey and A Voyage Round My Father. Cowgill also oversaw the launch of The Bill in 1984 and many popular sitcoms. Shortly before he left, he suggested to John Mortimer that he write a series about England after the Second World War. The result was Paradise Postponed.

He also oversaw the development of two of the company's fledgling offshoots. Euston Films produced location dramas such as Minder, Ace of Spies and Widows, while Cosgrove Hall Productions found huge success with children's animated series such as Dangermouse and The Wind in the Willows. Indeed, during Cowgill's time at Thames, programmes such as Dangermouse and The Benny Hill Show were such big sellers internationally that, in 1982, it became the first British TV company to win the Queen's Award for Industry.

Cowgill also reflected the new attitudes in Thatcherite Britain, taking on the all-powerful ACTT technicians' union at Thames Television when it called an all-out strike in 1984. Five years after national action had blacked out ITV for 10 weeks, and following a long history of disputes at the London weekday franchise-holder, Cowgill and the company's management kept programmes on the air by running the station themselves, with the union eventually capitulating. While other ITV regions had blank screens, Cowgill's action weakened the ACTT, just as the Thatcher government – which regarded television as one of the last bastions of trade-union power – was doing the same thing to the miners.

Born in 1927 in Clitheroe, Lancashire, where his father was owner and editor of the Advertiser and Times newspaper, Cowgill – later to be referred to by colleagues, though not to his face, as "The Clitheroe Kid" or "Ginger" because of his hair colour – left the local grammar school at 15 to become a copy boy on the Lancashire Evening Post. During the Second World War, he joined the Royal Marines (1943-47), rising to the rank of lieutenant in 3rd Royal Marine Commando and serving in Hong Kong.

After demob, Cowgill returned to the Lancashire Evening Post as a reporter, then feature writer, before taking over as editor of his father's paper in 1950. Then, in 1955, he successfully applied for a trainee production assistant's job with BBC television's outside broadcast department in London. He was producing and directing the magazine programme Sportsview within two years and, with Paul Fox, created Grandstand in 1958.

In 1963, Cowgill became the BBC's Head of Sport, launching the midweek Sportsnight five years later, as well as Sunday cricket coverage on BBC2. His rise continued when, in 1974, he was appointed Controller of BBC1. During his tenure, the channel launched popular series such as When the Boat Comes In, Porridge, The Good Life and Jim'll Fix It. His scheduling skills also saw American imports such as Kojak and Starsky and Hutch become popular with British viewers in peak-time.

After three years running BBC1, Cowgill was appointed to the newly created post of Director of News and Current Affairs, which came with a seat on the BBC's board of management. However, he was lured away to Thames Television before he could take up the post.

After his move, he poached stars from the BBC such as Mike Yarwood and Morecambe and Wise, although they were never as popular on ITV as they had previously been.

Subsequently, Cowgill became Deputy Chairman of Mirror Group Newspapers under Robert Maxwell. He also acted as a consultant to IMG, the sports management company that was branching out into television, although its planned sports channel – aimed at the satellite service BSB – never came to fruition as a result of BSB's merger with Sky.

Cowgill's autobiography, Mr Action Replay, written with Dale le Vack, was published in 2006.

Anthony Hayward

George Bryan Cowgill, television executive: born Clitheroe, Lancashire 27 May 1927; staff, BBC 1955-77, Head of Sport 1963-73, Head of Outside Broadcasts 1972-74, Controller, BBC1 1974-77; Managing Director, Thames Television 1977-85; married 1966 Jenny Baker (two sons); died Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire 14 July 2008.