A legendary British TV producer and director who was behind some of the most popular entertainment shows in the ’70s such as Celebrity Squares and New Faces before relocating to Devon, tragically died from sepsis.
Paul Stewart Laing passed away at the age of 83, and was credited for having launched the careers of many household names including Marti Caine, Les Dennis, Showaddywaddy, Lenny Henry and Victoria Wood. He moved to Plymouth from London in the late 1980s to become the head of features at Television South West (TSW) before becoming its director of programmes, the most senior commissioning position in the old ITV franchise system.
An inquest at Exeter Coroner’s Court today, January 16, heard Mr Laing underwent elective surgery for the removal of his gallbladder and common bile duct exploration on January 16, 2023, at Derriford Hospital, following worsening problems with gallstones for the past eight years.
Mr Laing was discharged home after four days and was said to have been recovering well until nine days later when in the early hours of January 29, he awoke feeling very unwell. An ambulance took him back to Derriford Hospital where his condition did not improve and he was diagnosed with sepsis.
Paul Stewart Laing with cartoonist, writer, comedian and satirist Willie Rushton
(Image: Jemima Laing)
Hours later, he was taken to theatre for emergency surgery to find the origin of the sepsis in his abdomen but suffered a cardiac arrest after being anaesthetised. He died a short while afterwards. The medical cause of his death was septicemia resulting from abdominal sepsis following elective surgery.
Details of the care he received was provided by Dr Aditya Kanwar, a consultant surgeon specialising in liver and bladder surgery at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust.
He described Mr Laing’s presentation as having been ‘very unusual’ and ‘unlucky’ for someone nine days after the operation, but conceded it was ‘likely’ his previous surgery had triggered the infection, a known risk of the procedure.
He said: “He probably did not have much reserves to fight it.”
Questions were raised by his daughter, Jemima Laing, deputy leader of Plymouth City Council, about the decisions doctors made on the day he was admitted to hospital, the amount of antibiotics he received, and the impact a massive IT outage on the day of his death had on the treatment received.
Dr Kanwar conceded it had meant a specialist radiologist had not been contactable prior to Mr Laing being moved to theatre. He added that a second report he himself had seen would have led him to not have taken him to theatre but treat him with antibiotics with further monitoring in ICU, but added that as efforts to stabilise him in 12 hours had not been successful, it was his belief he would not have got better and may have not had the ‘stress’ of an operation or may still have required one.
He said: “It was a very precarious situation. You are damned if you do something and damned if you don’t. It was his only fighting chance at that time.” He added that due to his serious condition there was ‘no right or wrong in this scenario’.
Paul Stewart Laing at Exeter racecourse
(Image: Jemima Laing)
Ms Laing also asked whether having had sepsis a year prior should have led to a different treatment plan to other patients but she was told it would not. He told the inquest that although the major IT outage had impacted communication, there had not been a repeat of one at the hospital since.
Ms Laing said that communication with the family had been poor due to the outage and that they had been given misinformation which has caused additional distress.
Assistant coroner Nicholas Lane stated that in his view, he did not believe the outage was ‘relevant to the chronology’ of events or eventual outcome for Mr Laing.
Recording a conclusion of natural causes, he said: “In my view, there is no evidence to suggest that Paul’s death could have been prevented through any clinical decision making or any lack of IT outage.”
Mr Laing will be forever remembered for a successful career producing and directing programmes which became part of the fabric of British television viewing such as The Golden Shot and Celebrity Squares.
Celebrity Squares was presented by Bob Monkhouse, who regarded Mr Laing as his “go-to” director. Mr Laing decided to make Kenny Everett the Voice of the Prizes on the show and the comedian subsequently credited him with reviving his career and said that it made him ”into a star”.
Mr Laing also directed London Night Out and Wednesday at Eight – a midweek version of Sunday Night at the Palladium – a variety show with a quiz game, Name that Tune, in the middle. The show was presented by Liverpudlian comedian, Tom O’Connor, and also starred Hot Gossip and made Strictly judge Arlene Philllips into a household name.
He also directed The Eamonn Andrews Show and What’s My Line. Having established a connection to Andrews, he was invited to join the production team on This is Your Life.
In the 1970s, Mr Laing was the vice president of the ACTT union and was part of the National Negotiating Team – he personally called and then helped organise, and win, the first national TV strike – he also called and helped organise, and win, the second national strike a few years later.
While at TSW, he was one of the senior executives who commissioned This Morning. He also commissioned Jim Henson and his son Brian to make the series Mother Goose – which was shot in Plymouth – and commissioned the award-winning children’s animation Tube Mice which included the voice talents of George Cole and Dennis Waterman.
His successes continued and when TSW lost its franchise in 1992, he took early retirement, spending the remaining decades living in France, New Zealand and his family home in Mannamead.
In a previous tribute to him, his daughter Ms Laing said: “My dad loved living in Plymouth and spending time on his boat at Sutton Harbour. We are all very proud of his brilliant career and everything he achieved but it was his family and his partner who were most important to him.
“His four children and seven grandchildren will find it very difficult to get used to the absence of his larger-than-life presence, as will Margaret, his partner of 36 years.”