Bazalgette joined the
BBC News graduate news training scheme, and was subsequently picked by
Dame Esther Rantzen as a researcher on ''
That's Life! from 1978. While a reporter at the BBC for Man Alive'', he joined Eric Parsloe's video production company Epic. The BBC put him in charge of producing the programme
Food and Drink, where he claims to have created the
celebrity chef. He continued producing by forming his own production company Bazal, which created hits for British TV including
Ready Steady Cook,
Changing Rooms and
Ground Force. In 1990, Bazal was acquired by Broadcast Communications, which itself was absorbed by
Endemol. In January 2005, Bazalgette became Chairman of
Endemol UK and Creative Director of Endemol Group worldwide. He was responsible for television shows including
Big Brother and
Deal or No Deal which were hits around the world, and led Endemol's digital entertainment strategy. Although
Big Brother was conceived from an existing series in the
Netherlands, Bazalgette is credited with popularising the format around the world thanks to the adaptations he built into the UK version. During Bazalgette's time on the global board, Endemol grew strongly and in 2005 it was launched on the
Dutch stock exchange. Over the following eighteen months, it trebled in value and was sold in 2007 for €3.2 billion. In September 2007 it was announced that Bazalgette was standing down as Chairman and would assume the role of advisor. Bazalgette has long championed the value of the BBC for its trusted news and critical investment in original programming and creative talent. Along with others he has speculated how long the current funding model of the BBC will last, and whether in the future the licence fee might be reduced to pay specifically for core news and information content. Bazalgette has been elected a
Fellow of
BAFTA and the
Royal Television Society, and was
President of the Royal Television Society 2010–17. He was as a non-executive director of the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport. In September 2012 he was appointed Chairman of
Arts Council England, and began his 4-year term on 31 January 2013.
The Independent argued that he may be "the most influential man in British television" as a result of his impact on the development of reality television and lifestyle TV programmes. The
Daily Mail once named him as one of the "Ten Worst Britons" for Endemol's Channel 4 show
Big Brother and the
London Evening Standard television critic
Victor Lewis-Smith claimed that Bazalgette had "done more to debase television over the past decade than anyone else." In September 2012, it was announced that he would succeed
Dame Elizabeth Forgan to chair the
Arts Council England. He was replaced in April 2018. In 2024, 10 years after Cameron promised that Britain would create a fitting memorial to remember all those who died in the Holocaust, the project to create a UK memorial and learning centre was mired in controversy, with planning permission for the memorial to be built in Victoria Tower Gardens having been quashed in the high court in April 2022 and objections to the Holocaust Memorial Bill, legislation intended to repeal the 1900 Act that set aside the Gardens for public use, being heard from parliamentarians including MPs Sir Peter Bottomley and Nickie Aiken, Lord Blencathra and Lord Carlile of Berriew experts and Holocaust survivors at a select committee meeting in the Commons. In February 2016, Bazalgette was named as the Chairman of
ITV, effective from 12 May 2016. In March 2022 ITV announced that Peter Bazalgette would step down as Chairman of ITV, effective from 29 September 2022. ==Other interests==