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Klein leaves ITV

ITV director of factual Richard Klein has become the latest high-profile executive to leave the UK commercial broadcaster.

Richard Klein

Richard Klein

Klein joined ITV in May 2013 after a five-year stint as controller of BBC4, where he imported Scandinavian dramas such as The Killing, Borgen and The Bridge.

His arrival at ITV coincided with that of former head of Channel 4 daytime Helen Warner, who joined the outfit as director of daytime. Both reported to director of television Peter Fincham, who announced his departure earlier this year with Kevin Lygo coming in as his replacement.

Klein said: “It has been a great thrill to run ITV factual for the last two-and-a-half years in what have been demanding times. The changing of the guard at the top provides the perfect opportunity to allow Kevin Lygo to pick his own team, and for me to move on to the next chapter.”

During his ITV tenure, Klein oversaw programmes including The Wonder of Britain, Long Lost Family and The Mafia with Trevor McDonald. One of his last acts of commissioning was to greenlight The Queen at Ninety (working title), a two-hour film marking the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth.

Klein moved into television from print journalism when he joined the BBC in 1996, first as a current affairs producer and director and later as a factual commissioning executive.

He was promoted to commissioning editor for documentaries in 2005, head of independent commissioning for BBC Knowledge in early 2008 and then controller of factual-skewing BBC4 in December that year.

ITV will now assess candidates for his replacement. Jo Clinton-Davis is the broadcaster’s factual controller, while Andrew O’Conner, Priya Singh and Satmohan Panesar are the other ITV factual commissioners.

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