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BBC names entertainment chief

The creative director of formats at BBC Worldwide (BBCWW) has been appointed BBC controller of entertainment commissioning.

Kate Phillips

Kate Phillips

Kate Phillips will be responsible for overseeing entertainment commissioning across all BBC Television channels, BBC iPlayer and online-only channel BBC3, in a role that replaces the remit previously held by entertainment chief Mark Linsey, who is now director of BBC Studios.

Phillips’ slate includes BBC1 programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing and Let It Shine, as well as panel shows including Have I Got News For You, Mock the Week and Would I Lie To You?. Her remit also extends to factual entertainment commissions such as The Apprentice, Dragons’ Den and Top Gear, and event programming including the Eurovision Song Contest.

Linsey first moved to become interim chief of BBC Television following the departure of Danny Cohen, before being named head of BBC Studios after Peter Salmon left to join Endemol Shine.

Alan Tyler took on Linsey’s entertainment role on an interim basis, with the pubcaster subsequently restructuring its senior management team by promoting BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore to become the creative, editorial and strategic lead for BBC1, BBC2, BBC4 and BBC iPlayer.

As creative director at formats at commercial arm BBCWW, Phillips, who takes up her new role on September 5, has responsibility for more than 200 formats including Top Gear, Strictly Come Dancing, The Great British Bake Off and The Great British Sewing Bee, alongside scripted formats Luther and The Office.

She was previously channel exec at BBC1 and BBC3, managing early development of commissions and liaising with scheduling, and has also worked as head of development for BBC Children’s. She also was a co-owner and director of Mast Media, which produced programming for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and others.

Moore said Phillips “brings an enormous wealth of experience and a fresh, dynamic approach, which makes her perfectly placed to lead BBC entertainment commissioning into the future.”

She added that Phillips would “create distinctive, game-changing hits across the whole of the BBC portfolio” and thanked Tyler “for his commitment and passion while covering the role in an acting capacity for the last eight months.”

Phillips said: “The BBC has some of the biggest entertainment brands in the world, and close collaboration with our creative community, containing the world’s leading producers, is the key to building that slate.”

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