He left Arena to become the BBC's head of Music and Arts, a position he occupied until 1987, when he was promoted to controller of BBC 2, one of the youngest channel controllers in the BBC's history. Under Yentob's five-year stewardship BBC2 was revitalised and he introduced many innovations in programming such as The Late Show, Have I Got News for You, Absolutely Fabulous and Wallace and Gromits The Wrong Trousers.
