Barry Leslie Norman CBE (21 August 1933 – 30 June 2017) was a British film critic, television presenter and journalist.

[3][4][5] He was brother of script editor and director Valerie Norman[5] (making him the former brother-in-law of Bernard Williams).

After returning to the Film series in 1983, Norman became increasingly irritated by the BBC's reluctance to screen it at a regular time, and in 1998 finally accepted an offer to work for BSkyB, where he remained for three years.

[citation needed] Norman was, together with Elton Welsby, the main anchorman for Channel 4's coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

Other shows included The Chip Shop, an early 1980s series dedicated to the emerging home computer industry.

[24] Norman explained to Empire magazine in 2014 that it had originated from a Rory Bremner sketch show on Channel 4.

[27] Norman married author Diana Narracott—only four days his junior—on 12 October 1957;[1] the couple lived in Datchworth, Hertfordshire, for many years[28][29] and both of their daughters (Samantha and Emma) were born there.

[36] Norman died in his sleep, aged 83, on 30 June 2017, at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage having been afflicted with lung cancer in his later years.

[37] Writing in The Guardian, journalist Dennis Barker and film critic Derek Malcolm said that Norman "perfected a flair for talking beguilingly about cinema to a mass television audience but in a way that did not make true aficionados wince.

[39] Mark Kermode wrote that "watching Barry Norman review films was a pleasure, an education, and an inspiration.