On 20 February 2018, regional theatre director, artistic director and chief executive John Blackmore died at the age of 77.

He was chief executive at Bolton's Octagon Theatre for 12 years, but he also put together a plan to save Liverpool's Everyman and Playhouse theatres, was Artistic Director of Manchester's Library Theatre in the 1960s, founded the company that became Northern Stage in Newcastle, was one of the founders of Out of Joint, was director or artistic director of Midlands Arts Centre (now mac) in Birmingham, The Dukes in Lancaster, Warwick Arts Centre and the English Shakespeare Company and chief executive of Leicester Haymarket.

In tribute, this episode is an interview by BTG editor David Chadderton with John from 2011 looking back on his impressive and varied career in theatre, followed by some reflections in 2018 from Mark Babych, now Artistic Director at Hull Truck but previously Artistic Director at the Octagon for ten years, on his time working with John.