Professor Robert Beveridge FRSA FSA Scot (1953-2026)
With the death of former VLV trustee Professor Robert Beveridge last week, public service broadcasting in the UK lost a fearless advocate who could be an equally fearless critical friend.
Robert combined a successful academic career in media regulation with a deep knowledge of and love for its subject – the British film and documentary tradition in its widest sense. Growing up in the Calton Hill area of Edinburgh which is steeped in the ethos of the Scottish Enlightenment, Robert imbued and, later, personified the best of its values, bringing an empirical and pragmatic approach to complex policy issues while insisting that both societal and commercial objectives be kept equally in mind.
While a popular senior lecturer in media studies at Edinburgh Napier University he maintained a close friendship with legendary BBC producer and ‘grandfather’ of UK community radio John Gray who had worked with John Grierson in the 1930s.
From 2005 to 2025 Robert organised multiple celebrations of the iconic filmmakers Powell and Pressburger and their film I Know Where I’m Going, events known as ‘IKWIG’ and held on the Isle of Mull where much of the film was shot. These included contributions from Powell’s widow and legendary film editor Thelma Schoonmaker and also from the last surviving cast member Petula Clark.
In this way Robert fashioned a personal link with the great tradition of British film and TV which enriched both his teaching as Professor of Media Policy and Regulation at the University of Sassari in Sardinia, from which he retired only last year, and his wider advocacy for PSB in the forum of UK media policy debate.
Robert’s wide-ranging intellectual interests and his academic skills – with his personal wit and charm – came together with impressive effect in his many appearances as a witness before parliamentary committees in both Westminster and Holyrood and in his roles as a member of the BBC Trust’s Scottish Audience Council and later as a valued member of the board of trustees of the Voice of the Listener & Viewer. In both roles Robert used his expertise and understanding to speak up forcefully and winningly for audience priorities, and to challenge vested interests wherever he found them.
He was particularly concerned that PSB in Scotland does not deliver the range and quality of output appropriate to a nation. “Cultural entities are more than economic entities” he reminded the Scottish Parliament’s Culture committee in January. “We need media policies which, as much as possible, enable us to tell our own stories rather than having them imposed upon us from the outside”. It is a belief that would have resonated with Grierson, Powell and Pressburger – and which should resonate with policymakers and lawmakers today.
VLV Chairman Colin Browne paid this tribute: “Robert was a true and effective friend of public service broadcasting and a highly respected VLV Trustee. He gave me wise advice and great company. He will be much missed”.
Robert will be greatly missed by all who knew him and is survived by his beloved daughter Emma.
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