Grant Naylor founder and agent was 62

Charles Armitage, the executive producer of Red Dwarf and a leading showbiz figure, has died at the age of 62

The grandson of legendary composer Noel Gay, Armitage was managing director of the company that carries his forebear’s name.

He was also co-founder of Grant Naylor Productions, the company that makes Red Dwarf. The news of his death on Monday was announced on the show’s official website.

Armitage started his entertainment career as a record promotions executive in America, before returning to the UK to join the Noel Gay organisation set up by his father, Richard Armitage.

The companies included an agency, which represented Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese, David Frost and Stephen Fry, and a music publishing business run by Armitage, And 1984, he and his brother Alex, who survives him, became producers of the hit stage revival of their grandfather's musical Me & My Girl, with a new book written by Fry.

With Paul Jackson, whose credits include The Young Ones and The Two Ronnies, Armitage formed one of the first major independent TV companies, Noel Gay TV, whose shows included Dave Allen’s stand-up and sketch shows, and the 2011 TV documentary The Untold Tommy Cooper. Its movie arm produced Dog Soldiers, Greyfriars Bobby and was a co-producer of Trainspotting. Meanwhile,Grant Naylor Productions continues to produce the revived Red Dwarf.

Armitage also set up a company with Trevor Phillips, the former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, to apply scientific methods to better understand social diversity.

Published: 10 Feb 2017