Allan McKeown

Allan McKeown
McKeown at the 1990 Emmy Awards
Born	John McKeown (1946-05-21)21 May 1946 London, England
Died	24 December 2013(2013-12-24) (aged 67) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Prostate cancer
Occupation	Producer
Years active	1979–2013
Spouse(s)	Tracey Ullman (m. 1983-2013; his death; 2 children)

John McKeown, better known as Allan McKeown (21 May 1946 – 24 December 2013), was a British television and stage producer. In 2007, McKeown launched Allan McKeown Presents, LLC.

John McKeown was born in Ealing, London on 21 May 1946. His parents Edith (née Humphries) McKeown and Victor Albert McKeown moved first to Hackney and then to Hainault, Essex. His father was the Clerk of Works at the new estate. Educated at Beal Grammar school in Ilford, he left early and became a trainee hairdresser at Vidal Sassoon in Bond Street. He was a figure in the London scene of the 1960s, and in 1966 he opened his own salon. As a hairdresser, he worked on a number of films and TV shows, Sunday Night at the London Palladium and films Villain, Get Carter and XYZ.

In 1969 he changed course and became a producer at James Garrett and Partners, at the time the largest TV commercials producer in the UK. He was appointed Managing Director shortly after joining. He left to form a production company Witzend with Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. Initially making commercials then the feature film Porridge. McKeown was the executive producer for Central Television's Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, with Clement and La Frenais as the show's main writers.

He was one of the first independent television producers in the UK. McKeown not only produced in Britain with his company, WitzEnd, but also produced in the US for all of the networks. In 1986, Witzend acquired Selectv, and in the process became a public company. The company grew as it added Alomo, a venture with writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran to its stable of production companies. In 1990, McKeown was a founding member of the Meridian consortium. The consortium was awarded the ITV television franchise for the South East of England.

McKeown was responsible for all of Meridian's comedy programming. In 1994 Selectv (the cable channel) was launched its programming, mainly programs produced by McKeown. In March 1996, McKeown accepted £51 million for SelecTV, now a broadcaster and a major supplier of television programs, from Pearson, the owner of the Financial Times. McKeown returned to the US producing the HBO comedy series, Tracey Takes On... for wife, Tracey Ullman. The series won six Emmy Awards. McKeown invested in the media launching web site itstv.com, an international distribution web site. The company was sold in March 2000. McKeown produced the Indian comedy series, Mumbai Calling. He later produced Tracey Ullman's State of the Union (2008–10).