Cotton's era was generally seen as the most eclectic in the history of BBC light entertainment, with programmes such as Morecambe and Wise becoming icons of British popular culture and drawing huge audiences, while the more subversive Monty Python provided a more cutting-edge, contemporary and daring complement.

Cotton's success as head of light entertainment led to his promotion to controller of BBC1, the corporation's premier and the UK's oldest television station, in 1977.

[3] Cotton subsequently did some freelance executive producing work in the light entertainment area and served as chairman of Noel Gay Television.

[7] He received a BAFTA Fellowship in 1998, and was knighted in the 2001 Birthday Honours for services to Television Broadcasting and Marie Curie Cancer Care.

There was also a documentary about his career with Michael Grade, Bruce Forsyth, Michael Parkinson, Ronnie Corbett, Terry Wogan, and Paul Jackson among those paying tribute, in addition to this a two-part documentary about his life and career was broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on New Year's Eve 2008 and New Year's Day 2009 presented by Paul O'Grady.