Founding producer of the BBC television series Question Time, skilful at spotting broadcasting talent

Barbara Maxwell, the founding producer of the BBC television debate programme Question Time, who has died aged 81, was an engaging, flamboyant figure whose work necessarily obliged her to traverse the worlds of politics and broadcasting, an undertaking she successfully embraced with effortless charm and to the mutual benefit of both.

She had an instinctive understanding of the chemistry offered by individual guests that could contribute to riveting television and she skilfully spotted potential broadcasting “talent” in someone’s public career, before perhaps even that person might be aware of it. She was smart and sassy, at least as clever as anyone else in the business, and became one of the seminal behind-the-scenes characters in broadcasting throughout the 1980s.