Vale: Jeff Watson

Producer / presenter Jeff Watson, best known for Beyond 2000 and Getaway, has died, aged 80.

He passed away peacefully last Wednesday following a brain cancer diagnosis in early 2018, surrounded by his wife Judi and
children, Timothy and Lucy, stepdaughter Cara and her husband Ben at Greenwich Palliative Care Hospital.

Initially Watson had only been given 3 months to live, but chose to ignore the news, and went on to live a fairly full and active life on the Northern Beaches until his last days. He was always involved with his family and friends in Australia and regularly in touch with family and friends overseas, but his health deteriorated a few days before his death.

As a broadcaster, author, journalist and documentary producer, Watson had more than 40 years in the industry.

He devised science programme Towards 2000 which he presented alongside Sonia Humphrey and David Flatman from 1981- 84 on ABC.

He was also a presenter on Beyond 2000 which aired on Seven and 10, enjoying extroardinary success globally, in the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, New Zealand and spawning a US adaptation. Fourteen series of Towards / Beyond 2000 were produced all up, with the last being made in 1999.

Watson also contributed to This Day Tonight, Four Corners, Holiday, 60 Minutes and was an origial presenter on Getaway from 1992–1998.

A passionate aviator, he flew 23,000 km from England to Australia with John Travolta, in a 50 year old jet airliner to produce the programme Southend to Sydney. Later they flew a small jet from Rio de Janeiro to Sydney via Manaus, Curacao, Brownsville (TX) Seattle, Anchorage, Petropavlovsk (Russia), Osaka, Guam, Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney.

He also produced two aviation programmes for Seven and The History Channel, The Boneyard and The Shape Of Things To Come. Other documentaries he produced include: Spitfire Over Australia (ABC), Curtiss Kittyhawk and The Ansett Story (Nine network and Discovery USA), Classic Aeroplanes in Australia (Discovery USA), The RAAF 70th Anniversary (Nine Network), Qantas 50 Years of QF-1 (Nine Network), and Veterans Return and Ghost Squadron (ABC) and The Last Plane Out of Berlin (ABC).

He was executive producer of The World Tonight with Clive Robertson and presented a weekly segment on classic cars, My Car, which later emerged as the documentary, Classic Cars in Australia. By 2001, he was the motoring and aviation editor of the Today show.

Watson also presented ABC radio program Travellers Tales for five years and authored or co-wrote books Heads I Win, The Last Plane out of Berlin, The Best of Travellers Tales, was made a Chevalier of the Order of Merit by then President Mitterrand of France in recognition of his services to France , served for two years as a Trustee of the Powerhouse Museum, was an Australia Day Ambassador and became an honorary Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Nine’s Getaway executive producer John Walsh said, “Jeff was really fundamental in the launch of Getaway in 1992. As one of the original presenters on the show he brought a world of experience to the on-air team and had the rare knack of being incredibly funny one minute and projecting authority and gravitas the next. Audiences really responded to him and there’s no doubt he played a big role in the show’s early success. He was a real one-of-a kind and will be missed.”

Catriona Rowntree said, “This is heartbreaking news. As both a colleague and friend Jeff was a joy to be with. You can imagine how interesting he was after so many world travels, above all though he was just so cheeky and fun loving. Jeff had the best bloopers ever! Jeff always spoke of his love for his family, I know their hearts will be hurting and we are sending all our love to them.”

Carmel Travers who produced Beyond 2000 said, “Put simply, Jeff Watson (Watto) was a one-off. His humour, his steadfast loyalty to friends, his love for the long lunch, his passion for anything that flew from the shuttle to the Concorde to biplanes and spy planes, Watto had an encyclopaedic knowledge of it all. He loved music, once played bass guitar with four lads from Liverpool around the time he started work as a journalist in his home town of Birmingham, UK. He loved travel and hosted the ABC show Travellers Tales, and he co-created a show on the ABC called Towards 2000 and then went on to become the smartest reporter on its sequel, Beyond 2000. He and the famed Nine Network producer, and good mate, David Lyle kicked off Getaway decades ago, which indulged his and everyone else’ passion for travel. Watto will be much missed by his friends and colleagues, and there’ll never be another quite like him. The mould is broken.”