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Unscripted chief Taylor to exit Sky

Sky’s unscripted chief Celia Taylor is leaving the satcaster to be replaced by the head of its arts network.

Celia Taylor

Celia Taylor

Taylor, head of non-scripted commissioning, has been with Sky for more than seven years and worked on shows including 50 Ways To Kill Your Mammy, A League of Their Own and Ross Kemp Extreme World.

Taylor, whose exit was confirmed by Sky today, will leave later this month and is expected to be replaced by Phil Edgar Jones. He will oversee Sky’s unscripted programming in addition to his role as head of Sky Arts.

Taylor arrived at Sky in 2009 from Virgin Media and before that worked at the BBC. She was initially head of factual at Sky before having her remit expanded to become head of non-scripted commissioning five years later.

Earlier this year The Grierson Trust, which seeks to promote documentary programming, appointed James Quinn, Sky’s commissioning editor for factual and documentaries, to its board to replace Taylor. Her next move is not yet known.

Sky has seen a number of senior programming execs leave over the past year or so, including head of comedy Lucy Lumsden and entertainment director Stuart Murphy.

In a note to staff, Sky’s MD of content Gary Davey referred to “the very disappointing news” that Taylor was leaving.

“I want to personally thank Celia for her huge contribution to the success of our originated output during her seven years at Sky,” he said.

“Her hits are simply too many to list here but include Sky Entertainment’s first Bafta, documentaries that opened the Sundance Film Festival and were shortlisted for an Oscar …twice … and the Bafta-winning, joyous, fresh take on panel shows A League of Their Own. Her ability to get established talent to do fresh and exciting things on Sky – in particular Karl Pilkington, Ross Kemp and David Attenborough – has been impressive.”

 

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