Julia Grant, the transgender activist who became the first in the UK to allow television cameras to chart her transition from male to female, has died aged 64 after a short illness.

According to online tributes from friends, Grant, who in later years became a strong advocate for Manchester’s gay village and owned the Hollywood Showbar on Canal Street in the heart of that district, died early on Wednesday morning.

Grant was propelled into the limelight in 1979 when she starred in the BBC series A Change of Sex, believed to be the first British documentary film about trans issues.

The five-part, long-term investigation, which screened its final episode in 1999, charted Grant’s transition. But it proved controversial among some trans people because of its handling of the issue.

Helen Belcher (@HelenCBelcher) I hear Julia Grant has passed away. Julia was the focus of the 1979 BBC mini-series A Change of Sex - programmes that stayed with me for years, partly because it became obvious to me that "being trans" was (at the time) repellant to those around me. 1/n

Born in Preston, Lancashire, in 1954, Grant grew up in nearby Fleetwood, before moving to London in 1974, where viewers of A Change of Sex first met her as George Roberts, a catering manager who performed as a drag queen.

The film and its sequels followed Grant from her first referral to the gender identity clinic at Charing Cross hospital, where she was seen being harangued by a sceptical psychiatrist, through her experiences of beginning life as a woman, her hormone therapy, her gender change surgery, and the impact on her life.

Grant later moved to Manchester, where she ran the Hollywood Showbar and, more recently, campaigned to protect the gay village from threats of redevelopment. She also wrote two books about her life, helped set up Benidorm gay pride and lived for a time in the US, where she counselled young people considering gender reassignment surgery.

While she remained active in the LGBT community throughout her life, and was seen as an icon, some of her views became controversial among other trans activists. In particular, she maintained that children should not have gender reassignment surgery, the BBC reported.

David Pearson, who directed the documentary series that charted Grant’s journey, tweeted that it had been “a great privilege” to cover her story.

David Pearson (@storiestravel) It was a great privilege for me to direct all the films in the BBC #ChangeOfSex series that followed the courageous and funny #juliagrant on her life story. I will miss her. She helped a lot of people find themselves. pic.twitter.com/hxxcXX4z6m

John Leech, the leader of Manchester’s Liberal Democrats and an LGBT rights campaigner, said Grant was “rightfully looked up to by many as a leader” and that his thoughts were with her loved ones.

“Throughout her life, she took on issues that others couldn’t quite bring themselves to and, in the process, changed the course of thousands of people’s lives,” Leech said. “Whilst this is a sad day, it is also a day to remind ourselves of her immense contributions to society and an even better day to renew our fight for true equality.”