Michael Macintyre, a BBC television producer and director known for his work with Sir David Attenborough, has died at the age of 85. He collaborated with Attenborough on the series The Tribal Eye (1975) and Spirit of Asia (1980), and later produced The Shogun Inheritance (1984) and The New Pacific (1985), both accompanied by books featuring his own photographs. His films often documented cultures that have since vanished, serving as valuable historical records.
Born in Baildon, West Yorkshire, Macintyre was the son of Vera Brougham and David Gray. After his father's death, his mother married Maurice Macintyre. He was educated at Cheltenham Grammar School and Magdalen College, Oxford.
Macintyre began his BBC career in 1961 as a trainee television engineer. He became a videotape editor by 1963 and a director in the presentation department, later moving to the music and arts department in 1965, where he worked on programmes such as Look of the Week, Release, and Review. After a year travelling in the Far East in 1969, he returned as a producer/director and began his collaboration with Attenborough.
In 1991, Macintyre left the BBC to work freelance as a director, cameraman, video editor, and photographer. He continued making films until 2007, when he was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia and forced to retire. Outside work, he enjoyed playing guitar, classical music, dance, tennis, cycling, and fast cars and motorbikes, but his greatest passion was photography.
He is survived by his partner, Stephanie Chilman, whom he met at the BBC, and their daughter, Natasha.
