Gavin Blyth

In January last year he was given the job of over-seeing Emmerdale as the show's series producer.

He died in St James's Hospital, Leeds, having been diagnosed with cancer only weeks earlier.

Born in Southport and brought up in Hesketh Bank, a village between Southport and Preston, he was the son of the Merseyside broadcaster and freelance journalist Roger Blyth.

He went to Tarleton High School and in 1985 became a sports reporter for Mercury Press Agency, the Liverpool company run by his father. He then changed course to become a press photographer, later joining Caters News Agency in Birmingham where he was promoted to editor and manager of its operations, leading its expansion through the 1990s.

Following the death of his father in 1996, Gavin's career took another turn when he joined Yorkshire Television (now ITV Yorkshire), becoming senior publicist for Emmerdale in 2002 and going on to be the programme's script editor. In 2005 he was appointed as a story associate on Coronation Street, and was later promoted to Assistant Producer.

When he returned to Emmerdale as series producer, he implemented a major revamp of the rural soap, bringing-back some popular old characters and signing-up a string of newstars, including Kim Thomson, James Sutton, Suzanne Shaw and Pauline Quirke.

Former colleague considered Gavin Blyth to be highly talented.

Inclined to be self-effacing and liked for his dry sense of humour, he brought empathy and compassion to his job as a press photographer, and an incisive, disciplined approach to all his work.

He is survived by his wife Suzy and their one-year old son Carter, and by his other two children, Tom and Anya,