BBC promotes factual commissioner

The BBC has elevated one of its existing commissioners to lead the popular factual and factual entertainment team.

Catherine Catton

Catherine Catton, who first joined the pubcaster in 2015, replaces David Brindley who left to become chief creative officer at ITV-owned prodco Twofour in November.

The announcement was made today by controller of factual commissioning Alison Kirkham, to whom Catton reports.

Since joining the BBC, Catton has overseen titles including The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan, Remarkable Places to Eat and The Big Hospital Experiment for BBC2, and Best Home Cook for BBC1.

Forthcoming commissions include You Are What You Wear with Rylan Clark-Neal for BBC1 and The Last Woman on Earth with Sara Pascoe for BBC2.

Before joining the BBC, Catton was a senior commissioning editor at UKTV where she commissioned a range of programmes including David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities and Storage Hunters.

Kirkham said: “Catherine is respected for her supportive manner and creative insights by colleagues and suppliers alike. I have no doubt that she will do a phenomenal job and lead an already vibrant and flourishing department to continued success.”

Catherine Catton said: “I’ve loved the last four years at the BBC so I feel very excited and privileged to be able to lead this brilliant team into the next chapter and focus on the very best in popular factual and factual entertainment programming.”