See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy MARK DUELL, DEPUTY CHIEF REPORTER (DIGITAL) Published: 08:43 BST, 7 July 2026 | Updated: 08:52 BST, 7 July 2026
Former BBC executive and television presenter Alan Yentob left more than £3million to his wife following his death aged 78, his will has revealed.The broadcaster, who died in May 2025, passed the money to TV producer Philippa Walker, whom he married in 2020 following a four-decade relationship.The High Court signed off Yentob's estate last week and the four-page will handed £3,160,783 directly to Walker after it was put together a year after they wed.Yentob requested that his trustees hold the full estate for his wife's benefit - meaning she will receive the cash as an unconditional gift, reported The Sun.Yentob and Walker had two children called Jacob and Bella who would have inherited his estate had his wife not survived him, according to the will.The couple married during the pandemic in August 2020 in front of their children and a handful of friends at Bridgwater register office in Somerset, where the family owned a country house nearby. Their main home was in Notting Hill, west London.Following the wedding, Yentob told the Daily Mail: 'It was lockdown love. Back in the Sixties and Seventies, when we were young, no one got married and being unmarried was the thing to do.'But now, particularly after spending so much time together in lockdown, we decided it was time to get married. I even have a ring on my finger to prove it, which feels very strange after all this time.' Alan Yentob left £3.1million in his will to his wife Philippa Walker, pictured together in 2011 Alan Yentob and Philippa Walker married in August 2020 following a four-decade relationshipHe also joked: 'Our kids had got used to the idea of being illegitimate, but now we've legitimised them. They're very pleased for us.'Yentob joined the BBC as a trainee in 1968 and held positions as controller of BBC One and BBC Two, director of television, head of music and arts, as well as the director of BBC drama, entertainment and children's.Speaking after his death on May 24 last year, Walker said: 'For Jacob, Bella and I every day with Alan held the promise of something unexpected. Our life was exciting, he was exciting.'He was curious, funny, annoying, late and creative in every cell of his body. But more than that, he was the kindest of men and a profoundly moral man. He leaves in his wake a trail of love a mile wide.'During his tenure at BBC Two, Yentob was credited with the revitalisation of the channel with commissions like Absolutely Fabulous, starring Jennifer Saunders and Dame Joanna Lumley, arts series The Late Show and Have I Got News For You, which later moved to BBC One.He also launched CBBC and CBeebies.His drama commissions included Middlemarch and Pride And Prejudice – which cemented actor Colin Firth's status as a heartthrob – as well as Ballykissangel, and he also took the decision to cancel Spanish-set soap Eldorado in 1993. Alan Yentob was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2024He also previously edited and presented the arts documentary series Imagine from 2003.In 2015 he stepped down as BBC creative director, saying at the time that his role at the charity Kids Company was a 'serious distraction'.Yentob, who was chairman of trustees at the charity, faced scrutiny over his role as well as claims he tried to influence coverage at the corporation of its troubles.He always insisted there was no conflict of interest in his decision to call Newsnight about its investigation into Kids Company and had not 'abused my position at the BBC'.Yentob was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters from De Montfort University, Leicester in 2005.In 2024 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by the King for services to the arts and media.
