Robin Bextor


Robin Bextor is an English film and television producer and director. He is the father of the dance-pop singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Early life and education

After education at Shene Grammar School in Richmond, Surrey, England, and at the University of Reading, he joined Thames Television and then the BBC, where he produced and directed documentaries, including the RTS award winning film on blind parents and entertainment programmes, including That's Life!. During this time he also made pop promotion videos for such bands as Bad Manners, Bow Wow Wow, Adam Ant and Bucks Fizz.

Career

In the early 1990s, he became head of arts at TWI before joining the Man Alive group.
He directed Edward on Edward, a documentary in which Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex discussed King Edward VIII.
As director of programmes for Ardent, he steered the company to its first profit, but left to pursue other projects, including films with Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, and Paul McCartney.
He has since made programmes with his daughter, the singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor; the French duo Air; The Damned; The Stranglers; and UB40. He directed the cult short film Norfolk Coast, featuring Susannah York and Jean Jacques Burnel. He is majority shareholder of the Soho post production business Vivid, responsible for programmes on the England Football team, Test cricket and Fulham FC as well as many arts subjects.

Political activity

In May 2019, Bextor was selected and stood as an MEP candidate for The Independent Group for Change. He ran in the South East England constituency. Achieving 106,000 votes, he did not win the seat.