C4 alum Petrie takes BBC comedy role

UK pubcaster the BBC has named former Channel 4 exec Jon Petrie as its new director of comedy, replacing the outgoing Shane Allen.

Jon Petrie

Petrie started his career at Talkback Productions in the UK before moving to Roughcut Television in 2008, where he produced internet shorts for BBC Comedy. His early credits included Misery Bear, Cardinal Burns and Doc Brown.

He went on to nurture a portfolio of new talent for television, including the series Anna & Katy and Stath Lets Flats, both for Channel 4, and all five seasons of Bafta- and Royal Television Society Award-winning People Just Do Nothing, executive producing from season four.

In 2018, he oversaw People Just Do Nothing USA (Amazon) and in 2019 worked with BBC Films on the feature film People Just Do Nothing: Big In Japan.

The following year he was appointed comedy commissioning editor for commercially funded UK pubcaster Channel 4, overseeing The Windsors, Friday Night Dinner and Dead Pixels. He is currently head of comedy at Netflix-backed Broke and Bones, owned by Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones.

Allen, director of comedy commissioning, and head of comedy Kate Daughton left the BBC to launch their own prodco in May.

“Shane has done an incredible job of banging the drum for UK comedy over the last few years. He leaves massive clown shoes to fill and I’m under no illusions about the magnitude of the task ahead of me. As a team, BBC Comedy Commissioning will continue to develop comedy with the most exciting new and established talent, both on and off screen, that speaks to everyone across the UK. It’s not like we couldn’t all do with a laugh right now,” Petrie said.

He will report to Charlotte Moore, the BBC’s chief content officer, who said: “Jon is a talented creative with a passion for comedy and an impressive track record for spotting new and diverse talent from across the UK and creating mainstream hits. I’m thrilled he’s joining the BBC as the new director of comedy and can’t wait to start working with him as he leads BBC comedy commissioning into an exciting new era.”

Petrie will now be responsible for the commissioning of all scripted comedy programmes for BBC channels and BBC iPlayer and the BBC Comedy Association. Interim arrangements remain the same, with Kate Phillips, director of BBC Entertainment, overseeing new comedy commissioning decisions and Tanya Qureshi as head of comedy. Petrie’s start date will be announced soon.