A former chairman of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre who guided the venue through the controversial staging of a play which led to riots in 2004, has died at the age of 68.

The theatre has paid tribute to the leadership of television executive Andy Allan, who died on November 28 after a long battle with cancer.

He was also the man who axed city made TV soap Crossroads. Mr Allan joined the Birmingham Repertory Theatre as chairman in 2000, following his retirement from television production.

He appointed Jonathan Church as artistic director and Stuart Rogers as executive director, also making changes to board.

Mr Rogers said: “He took over as chairman when the Rep was at one of its lowest points for many years. He helped us all turn the theatre around.”

He described Mr Allan as a “hands off chairman”, who trusted his two new directors to take control.

“He was tremendous like that,” said Mr Rogers. “You knew you had his support and his confidence as long as you did what you said you were going to do.”

Mr Allan is remembered as a man who was always laughing.

“He could find the funny side of everything,” said Mr Rogers.

The most controversial episode of his chairmanship was the production of Behzti – Pujabi for dishonour – in December 2004.

The play, written by Sikh playwright Gurpreet Bhatti Kaur, centred on a Sikh temple where rape, abuse and murder take place.

“The Rep has always had a reputation for doing new work and it was a tremendously exciting new play,” said Mr Rogers. ‘‘He wasn’t afraid of being controversial,” he added. “He felt it was the right thing for the theatre to do.”

Behzti ran for ten days before violent demonstrations broke out at the theatre over the weekend of December 20.

The following Monday, police told Mr Allan and Mr Rogers that they could no longer guarantee the safety of audiences and theatre staff, and the decision was made to cancel the production.

“Andy will be remembered for his good-humoured calm and unflappable approach in periods of challenge,” said Trina Jones, general manager of the Rep.

“In particular for his support of the company during the debate around Behzti.”

Mr Allan had experience managing difficult situations following television successes such as the satirical series Spitting Image, a programme which involved spending many hours with Central Television’s lawyers.