![\"Edinburgh](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_Edinburgh-International-Book-Festival.jpg\")
Stuart Prebble has died aged 74(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\nStuart Prebble, who created Grumpy Old Men, was also a former chief executive at ITVStuart Prebble has died aged 74(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Stuart Prebble, the influential television figure behind the BBC hit Grumpy Old Men and a former chief executive at ITV<\/a>, has died aged 74. His family confirmed the news, stating he had been battling pancreatic cancer.<\/p>\n The passing of Prebble has sparked an outpouring of tributes from across the broadcasting world, with many reflecting on his creative legacy and journalistic brilliance.<\/p>\n Among the first to honour him was political broadcaster Michael Crick, who wrote on X, formerly Twitter:<\/a> “One of the most distinguished TV journalists of modern times.”<\/p>\n Others also took to social media to share their memories and admiration.<\/a> One tribute praised Prebble as “a really talented, inspiring and creative TV executive, who was able to navigate very tricky, fast-changing times. Sad news.”<\/p>\n Another wrote: “One of Britain’s best TV journalists, editors, investigators and original minds: fabulous sense of humour has died. RIP Stuart Prebble: Editor of World in Action and creator of Grumpy Old Men and @sky Landscape Artist,” reports the Mirror<\/a>.<\/p>\n Prebble’s journalism career launched with a scoop most reporters could only dream of while he was still a university student in 1972. As Wings, Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles band, toured UK campuses with unannounced gigs, they turned up in Newcastle, where Stuart was working on the student paper, The Courier.<\/p>\n “I looked in the back of the van, and there was Paul McCartney,” he recalled. Despite it being a Sunday and the Student Union being closed, Stuart found a workaround: “I told them the Student Union was closed on a Sunday but that they might be able to play in the canteen.”<\/p>\n He helped set up the show, where 400 students paid 50p each to hear McCartney’s new material – netting Stuart a front-page story and an unforgettable byline.<\/p>\n That early break marked the beginning of a wide-ranging career. After five years at the BBC<\/a>, he moved to Granada and became a central figure at World in Action, a hard-hitting current affairs show known for, as he once put it, “righting wrongs, taking on the establishment, and uncovering dodgy dealings of one kind or another.”<\/p>\n![\"MEDIA](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_MEDIA-ITV-Prebble.jpg\")
The passing of Prebble has sparked an outpouring of tributes from across the broadcasting world(Image: PA)<\/p>\n