Rowan Ayers made his mark on the world of television as the editor of Late Night Line-Up, the groundbreaking BBC2 programme begun in the 1960s. Its format — live broadcasts at the end of the evening schedule with discussion and reviews of films, books, theatre, music and television — was utterly original. None of this had been done before.

The television reviews proved particularly controversial: Ayers had to fight his corner within the BBC, where programme makers did not take kindly to having their output criticised on one of their own channels. Matters came to a head when adverse comments on a drama series, The

First Churchills, brought a furious reaction from the drama executive responsible.

Despite the subsequent wrist-slapping, Ayers enjoyed the support of David Attenborough, the Controller of BBC2, and of Huw Wheldon, head of all television output, who described Late Night Line-Up as “an arena where important things have been said about television and a place where extremely bright television is itself being made”.

Remembered by Will Wyatt, a producer on the show, as “a dashing figure who looked somewhat like Rex Harrison”, Ayers thrived on his rows within the BBC and was fiercely protective of his team. He carried responsibility easily, and had a nose for talent. He seldom stayed until the programme went live, usually watching it from home and calling in afterwards with his comments.

Late Night Line-Up was originally called Line-Up and was devised by Ayers as a ten-minute trailer to the evening’s BBC2 schedule. It was intended to be the first item to be broadcast from BBC2 on its launch night in April 1964, but a fire at Battersea Power Station blacked out much of West London, leaving viewers staring at blank screens.

After a few months Line-Up moved to the end of the evening and went out seven days a week, most weeks of the year. As the last programme of the evening it ran for as long as the content merited, often well past midnight. Ayers recruited a team of young and little-known presenters, including Joan Bakewell, Denis Tuohy, Michael Dean and Tony Bilbow.

Transmitted live, the programme’s highlights included unscheduled moments such as when Ken Russell assaulted the film critic Alexander Walker with a rolled-up newspaper after taking exception to a review, or the comedy writer John Antrobus, who had been enjoying himself at the BBC bar, burst into the studio uninvited and had to be dragged out.

Despite the modest fee (Sean Connery used his cheque to light a cigar), there was no shortage of distinguished guests, attracted partly by the chance to discuss their art without television’s usual deadlines. Stockhausen and Boulez appeared, as well as Marcel Duchamp, Woody Allen, Günter Grass and Vaclav Havel. Late Night Line-Up was one of the first regular programmes to go out in colour and it spawned such spin-offs as Film Night and, by way of a rock show Colour Me Pop and The Old Grey Whistle Test.

After about 3,000 editions the final show was broadcast in December 1972, by which time Ayers was busy on another pioneering project. Appointed to run a new Community Programmes Unit, he was responsible for setting up Open Door, a series made by viewers.Those given a voice on the programme included the homeless, black teachers, night cleaners and one-parent families.

The memory of Late Night Line-Up was so cherished by those involved, both its presenters and those behind the camera, that they began a tradition, that survives to this day, of meeting once a month for lunch. In 2002 Ayers himself came over from Australia, where he had settled, for a special celebration to mark his 80th birthday.

Rowan Ayers was born in Essex in 1922 and attended Dulwich College. During the Second World War he spent six years in the Royal Navy, ending up as a lieutenant in the RNVR. In 1946 he became an editorial assistant for a publisher of technical books and the following year spent six months as assistant editor of The Boy’s Own Paper.

After a spell with an advertising agency he became a freelance copy-writer. He spent three years with Amalgamated Press as assistant competitions editor before returning to freelance writing. He had more than 50 short stories published in magazines and two plays broadcast by the BBC. In April 1955 he joined the BBC as editorial assistant on the Radio Times. Later that year he became the magazine’s TV editor. In 1961 he moved to TV as assistant head of presentation, from which he went on to create Line-Up.

He left the BBC in the 1970s and moved to Australia, where he had family. He worked for Kerry Packer’s Channel 9 television station, wrote and presented television documentaries and published books on video production.

His marriage was dissolved. He is survived by his son, Kevin Ayers, a founding member of the 1960s psychedelic band, Soft Machine.

Rowan Ayers, journalist, writer and television producer, was born on June 16, 1922. He died on January 5, 2008, aged 85