The television producer and broadcasting executive John Whitney, who has died aged 92, was a pioneer of commercial radio and independent television drama in postwar Britain. His biggest hit as a producer was the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs, which ran for five years from 1971 on ITV, and was revived in 2010 by the BBC.
Then, as Capital Radio’s first managing director, from 1973, under Richard Attenborough as chair, he introduced the charity Help a London Child, the Flying Eye traffic congestion spotter and the popular Capital Radio Helpline. When he left the station in 1982, it was the most successful in the independent sector.
