Producer and director who became a champion of the TV industry, founding the Campaign for Broadcasting Equality

The television producer and director Simon Albury, who has died aged 80, went from making current affairs and music programmes to becoming a passionate advocate for the industry he loved.

He thwarted what he described as “Thatcher’s wrecking ball” to ITV in the Conservative government’s 1990 Broadcasting Act plans, which would reshape the future of British television.