Former Controller of CBeebies Kay Benbow has died aged 63.
Kay Benbow receiving the BAFTA Kids’s Award for Channel of the Yr in 2013
The broadcasting govt joined CBeebies in 2002 and have become the second Controller of CBeebies in Could 2010, leaving the function in 2017.
Throughout her time in cost, CBeebies received the BAFTA Kids’s Award for Channel of the Yr 4 occasions, in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2016.
Benbow’s demise was confirmed in an announcement from the BBC which paid tribute to her unbelievable contribution to kids’s programming.
The assertion learn: “Everybody within the BBC Kids’s and Training division is extremely unhappy to listen to the information that Kay Benbow has handed away. Our most honest condolences go to Kay’s husband Ian, their sons and to the broader household.
“Because the controller of CBeebies, Kay was recognized throughout the entire youngsters’ media sector for her ardour and dedication to offering younger kids with the easiest content material.
“She was pivotal in taking CBeebies programmes into new and authentic areas, by no means afraid to stretch preschool minds into unthought-of territory – reminiscent of ballet, Shakespeare, arithmetic, science and the thrill of the annual reside Christmas present.
“Kay shall be deeply missed by an enormous variety of present and former BBC colleagues, an affidavit to the numerous lives she touched along with her service to the viewers.
“She was a rare individual and did a lot for CBeebies and younger kids throughout the UK.”
Kay was married to Ian Stubbs and the couple had two sons, born in 1994 and 1998.
Since her passing was introduced, a number of of Benbow’s former colleagues have paid tribute to her on social media.
Government producer Michael Carrington – who preceded Benbow as CBeebies boss – wrote on LinkedIn: “Her ardour for youngsters’s programming was evident in each undertaking she undertook, leaving an indelible mark on the business and audiences.
“Past her skilled accomplishments, Kay’s kindness and unwavering assist left a long-lasting impression on me.
“Her management and steering have been invaluable, and her presence shall be sorely missed by all who had the pleasure of understanding her.”
Stuart Rowson – who beforehand labored for BBC Kids’s TV and is the founding father of Fortunate Socks Media – additionally paid tribute to Benbow on LinkedIn.
He wrote: “Kay was a legendary chief of CBeebies and affectionately often known as the Queen of Beebies by a few of these nonetheless inside BBC Kids’s, a number of years after her departure.”