John Morrell

Sep 27 2007 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

SERIOUS newspaper journalists do not always step surely into the fizzier atmosphere of television’s topical shows.

Although John Morrell made the transition with admirable aplomb, his sensibilities occasionally winced at the brasher excesses of the new medium.

It was perhaps because of his reputation for knowing where to draw the line, at a time when the line was becoming ever more elastic, that persuaded BBC bosses to appoint him editor of That’s Life – an uncertain mix of investigative consumer reporting and end-of-the-pier entertainment, starring a toothy Esther Rantzen, ode-man Cyril Fletcher, reading newspaper misprints, and a cast of young talent.

John Morrell had already enjoyed a stint on the programme’s predecessor, The Braden Beat, a vehicle for the quizzical expressions and knowing-wit of Bernard Braden.

On That’s Life, Morrell was from time to time required to consider the suitability of certain words, such as knackers or knockers and my old man’s “doo-dah” (enlivened by Miss Rantzen singing the rest of the refrain to the Campdown Races, while a woman admired a bowl of sliced squid).

It was a long way from the Dewsbury Reporter and Batley News, which Morrell joined from grammar school. He worked for the Wakefield Express and the Bristol Evening World, before tasting the big-time with the old Daily Sketch, which gave so many people their start in national journalism.

He also had spells with the Daily Telegraph and TV Times, before joining ATV in 1963 as a researcher on the Braden Beat, as satire flourished in the UK, following the success of That Was The Week That Was.

Three years later, Morrell moved to the BBC, advancing through 24 Hours, with Cliff Michelmore, and Nationwide, on which he was deputy editor.

Between 1975-78, he edited That’s Life, while retaining an interest in news, resulting in him editing BBC’s coverage of the 1979 General Election, which saw Margaret Thatcher sweeping to power.

He had a brief spell with Thames TV, but returned to BBC in 1981 as Head of Planning, before editing Newsnight and then a further period on That’s Life (1985-89).

Morrell, married twice with four children, retired from the BBC in 1993, made programmes for Meridian TV, and was then appointed executive director of Bafta.

He died on a family holiday on the Isle of Mull.

John Morrell, journalist; born April 29, 1939, died August, 2007.