Channel 4 promotes Alisa Pomeroy and Shaminder Nahal to replace factual chief

Commercially funded UK pubcaster Channel 4 has promoted Alisa Pomeroy to head of documentaries and Shaminder Nahal to head of specialist factual.

Alisa Pomeroy

The two positions have been created as a replacement for the head of factual job, which was held by Danny Horan until he left the It’s a Sin broadcaster at the turn of the year.

Starting the new roles with immediate effect, Pomeroy will report to Ian Katz, chief content officer, while Nahal will report to Louisa Compton, head of news and current affairs, sport and specialist factual.

Pomeroy joined C4 in 2015 and was most recently senior commissioning editor of factual, with credits including Jade: The Reality Star Who Changed Britain, Barrymore: The Body in the Pool and Undercover Police: Hunting Paedophiles.

Previously, she was a freelance producer working for organisations such as Shine, The Garden, the BBC and Talkback Thames.

Nahal started her career at C4 as deputy editor of Channel 4 News in 2012 before going on to work as commissioning editor for factual and arts.

Shaminder Nahal

Her credits include Grayson’s Art Club, Grenfell: The Untold Story, Empire State of Mind, Diana: The Truth Behind the Interview and Superkids: Breaking Away From Care.

Katz said: “Alisa is an inspirational and mischievous commissioner with a long track record of delivering some of the channel’s most creatively ambitious and successful shows. Shaminder is a brilliantly original and iconoclastic thinker who has been behind some of the channel’s most distinctive and provocative commissions. I have no doubt that both of them will make waves.”

In related news, C4 has commissioned Captive Minds Media to make two unscripted programmes fronted by former glamour model Katie Price.

Katie Price’s Mucky Mansion (3×60’) sees Price try to turn her 19-room mansion, which has fallen into disrepair, back into a family home. Katie Price: Trauma & Me (1×60’) is a one-off doc exploring Price’s struggles with mental health.

C4 has also commissioned a spin-off to its long-running culinary competition format Come Dine With Me, this time featuring professional chefs.

Come Dine With Me: The Professionals (20×60’) sees teams of professional chefs and restaurateurs take competing to be crowned the best independent restaurant in their town, county or city.

The series is produced by MultiStory Media, part of the format’s distributor ITV Studios, with Henry Hainault as series editor and is executive produced by Simone Haywood, MultiStory Media’s head of factual entertainment and formats.