The Stage

Nicholas Rossiter

Published Monday 23 August 2004 at 11:40 by Patrick Newley

Arts producer and documentary maker Nick Rossiter was responsible for bringing Sister Wendy Beckett to television to talk about art. Sister Wendy’s Odyssey and Sister Wendy’s Grand Tour were two of televisions most unexpected hits of the nineties and made the Carmelite nun a household name.

Rossiter also made ground-breaking productions such as his documentary detective story about Sotheby’s and Christies, entitled A Crime Amongst Gentleman, American Visions with the art critic Robert Hughes and Renaissance with Simon Schama.

The son of the painter Anthony Rossiter, Nicholas Jeremy Rossiter was born on July 17, 1961 and was educated in Oxford. He later went to the Centre of Journalism Studies in Cardiff.

He joined the BBC as a researcher on the BBC2 current affairs programme Brass Tacks and went on to work for Newsnight, Heart of the Matter, Out of Court and Look North before joining the arts department.

He directed Prince Charles’ controversial polemic on architecture, A Vision of Britain, an award-winning programme that made headlines all over the world. It won Rossiter the first of many awards.

Other programmes included a revelatory film about the government’s art collection, featuring Peter Mandelson, and a brilliant study of Picasso’s Lapin Agile, one of the best of the Relative Values series.

Rossiter died suddenly on July 23 at the age of 43. He and his wife Bea Ballard, a BBC executive and the daughter of the novelist JG Ballard, had two daughters.

Jana Bennett, BBC director of television, who knew and worked with Rossiter over the years, said: “Nick brought a deep knowledge and passionate enthusiasm for the arts and culture in its widest sense, which he combined with beautiful film-making to touch viewers across the whole of the UK.

“His contribution to BBC Television will not be forgotten and he will be greatly missed by friends and colleagues across the organisation.”