Unlike most of his contemporaries in the top executive positions of British television, Michael Grade did not progress through the usual route of program making, but rather through the entertainment business, which colored his approach to the commissioning and scheduling of programs, at which he was the acknowledged master.

     Grade came from a family steeped in show business. His uncles were Lew Grade, the flamboyant businessman who ran the ITV franchise ATV among many entertainment interests, and Bernard Delfont, the theatrical impresario who ran the London Palladium. His father, Leslie Grade, was a talent agent. It was into this branch of the family business that Michael first moved, after a brief career as a sports journalist with the Daily Mirror in the early 1960s.

     It was in this capacity that Michael Grade came into contact with the world of television, learning a great deal about the business from the sidelines. He worked with the Grade Organization from 1966 to 1969 and with London Management and Representation, where he was joint managing director, from 1969 to 1973. His job included negotiating with TV entertainment controllers, including Bill Cotton, Jr., at the BBC. Indeed, Cotton was an old family friend, as Grade's father had been Cotton's father's agent, and Cotton was to play a significant role in bringing Grade to the BBC later in his career.

     It was therefore no surprise when he moved into television entertainment himself, becoming deputy controller of programs (Entertainment) at London Weekend Television in 1973, later moving to the post of director of programs (and board member) from 1977 to 1981. Grade's big problem at LWT was that, as the London weekend franchise holder, LWT was responsible for only three nights a week, and those nights, especially Saturday, were the ones on which the BBC was at its strongest. Although he gained his reputation for populism and entertainment at LWT, it should not be forgotten that, as director of programs, he also initiated the arts series The South Bank Show, which remains ITV's most important contribution to arts programming.

     In 1981 Michael Grade moved to Hollywood, as president of Embassy Television, the independent Hollywood production company founded by Norman Lear, but the experience was not a happy one. He found American television too economically competitive, and he eagerly returned to Britain in a key role at the BBC in 1984.

     He became controller of BBC 1 at a time when the corporation was losing the ratings war with ITV, using his scheduling skills and inside knowledge of ITV to turn the situation around to the BBC's advantage. The scheduling and success of the soap opera Eastenders was the most vital pillar in Grade's strategy. In I 986 Grade became BBC TV director of programs, with responsibility for rejuvenating the schedule across both networks. Again, despite his reputation is as a populist, the period also saw some of the BBC's most respected landmarks, including the drama series Edge of Darkness and The Singing Detective, as well as controversy over the World War I drama The Monocled Mutineer, which Grade wrongly defended as factually correct. However, the act for which he is most remembered in some circles is the cancellation of the cult sci-fi institution Doctor Who.

     In 1987 Grade was interviewed for the job of BBC director-general but lost out to Michael Checkland. Checkland brought in John Birt as his deputy and it was the expansion of Birt's influence, at Grade's expense, which led Grade to leave the BBC.

     At the beginning of 1988 he became the second chief executive of Channel 4. It was a surprise appointment, because Grade's reputation for populism did not seem to fit Channel 4's intellectual and minority image. Indeed, the channel's outgoing first chief executive, Jeremy Isaacs, was publicly critical of Grade's appointment and famously threatened to "throttle" him if he altered the channel's remit.

     Yet again, Grade's populism was tempered by his commitment to quality and public service. His approach at Channel 4 was to apply the remit for innovation to entertainment and comedy, introducing programming like Vic Reeves' Big Night Out. Grade's Channel 4 also maintained its reputation for controversy, with strands like Eurotrash and The Word, and the sexual nature of some of the more high-profile offerings led the conservative tabloid newspaper, the Daily Mail, to dub him "Britain's pornographer-in­-chief." Nevertheless, dramas like Traffik maintained Channel 4's reputation for quality.

     The most important change, however, was organizational. Having previously proposed the privatization of the channel while at the BBC, Grade found himself on the other side of the argument when the 1990 Broadcasting Act considered Channel 4's future funding method. The eventual solution-Channel 4 became a public corporation selling its own airtime and with a renewed remit for innovation and minority program­ ming-suited Grade's approach of maximizing audiences with innovative programming and scheduling. The 1990s were a time of great expansion for the channel under his leadership.

     Grade left Channel 4 in 1997 and took on a variety of jobs outside television, notably with National Lottery organizer Camelot, but rumors regularly link him with top television jobs; his career in the medium can­ not be said to be over.