Denis Forman

Sir John Denis Forman (13 October 1917 – 24 February 2013) was a Scottish executive in the British television industry long associated with the ITV contractor Granada, and with various charitable and governmental bodies in the arts.

Career Forman was born in 1917 in Cragielands, near Moffat, in Dumfries, to the Rev Adam Forman, an Episcopalian vicar and country gentleman who later became a Presbyterian minister. Later he was chair of its board of governors, from 1971 to 1973.

After his main period of work at the BFI, Forman joined the new Granada Television in 1955, an ITV contractor which went on air in the following year, being appointed by Cecil Bernstein (brother of Sidney) who was a BFI governor at the time. He was chairman from 1974 to 1987, and deputy chairman of the Granada Group from 1984 to 1990. Throughout his career, Forman encouraged young talent and amongst others, mentored the founder of Channel 4 Sir Jeremy Isaacs and musician and businessman David Wood.

At Granada Forman presided over the creation of the acclaimed series The Jewel in the Crown and such ground-breaking programmes as World in Action, Disappearing World, University Challenge and Family at War.

Personal life Forman married Helen de Mouilpied in 1948 and they had two sons, Charlie and Adam. She died in 1987. He married again in 1990, to Moni, the widow of the journalist James Cameron.

Publications Mozart’s Piano Concertos, 1971 Son of Adam (autobiography, vol.1), 1990 To Reason Why (autobiography, vol.2), 1991 The Good Opera Guide, (ed.) 1994 Persona Granada: Some Memories of Sidney Bernstein and the Early Days of Independent Television (memoir), 1997 A Night at the Opera: An Irreverent Guide to The Plots, The Singers, The Composers, The Recordings, 1998 The Good Wagner Guide, 2000