C4’s Raphael joins Dragonfly

The commissioning editor for documentaries at Channel 4 is leaving the broadcaster to join Shine-owned UK indie Dragonfly.

Mark Raphael will take up a creative director role at Dragonfly in May, replacing Simon Dickson who stepped up to become MD of the company in November in the wake of Sanjay Singhal’s departure.

Raphael will work with the editorial team at Dragonfly on current productions and those in development.

He initially joined C4 in his current role in 2009 taking charge of the Cutting Edge factual strand. His commissions include Obsessive Compulsive Hoarder and Bafta-winning Educating Essex. Prior to that he was head of factual at North One Television.

It’s the latest in a steady stream of departures from C4 over the past 18 months.

Controller of channel management George Dixon left for Irish broadcaster RTÉ earlier this week while COO Anne Bulford left for the BBC in February.

Head of features and factual formats Damian Kavanagh returned to the BBC after less than a year with C4 and head of comedy Shane Allen also moved to the corporation last August.

Online managing editor Sheena Peirse moved to commercial rival ITV in October.