Alan Yentob, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Creative Director, announced today (Monday 4 April)
the appointment of Alison Sharman as the new Controller
of CÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.
Alison Sharman, currently Controller of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Daytime, will become the
creative leader of the two children's channels, the CÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Channel and
CBeebies, and will be responsible for their editorial vision, commissioning
and scheduling strategies.
She will have overall responsibility for all children's production,
children's acquisitions and CÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ online.
Following Dorothy Prior's move to become Controller of Production Resources,
Alison will take up her new role on 20 June.
Susan Spindler, Deputy Director of Drama, Entertainment and CÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½, will
caretake the role in the interim.
Alan Yentob said: "Alison has proved herself to be an outstanding creative
leader. The clarity and freshness of vision she showed in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Daytime,
backed by a real willingness to surprise and challenge both the audience
and the industry's traditional perceptions of daytime television, made
her the first choice for this important role.
"I'm delighted that she will now bring that sense of innovation and
the broadest range of programme ideas to television for young audiences
- in some ways the toughest audience to reach - and I am confident that
under her direction CÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ will go from strength to strength."
Alison Sharman said: "CÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ is the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ in microcosm, bringing real range
and quality to young audiences.
"I want today's children to form the same kind of bond with children's
programmes from the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ as I did in my youth; for the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ to really
matter to them despite the fact that there are so many other things
claiming their attention now.
"I am really excited to inherit such strong services and to be
given such a fantastically rich and broad canvas to both build and experiment
on."
Jana Bennett, Director of Television, said: "Alison has been a tireless
champion of the importance of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Daytime, and has pioneered the introduction
of original drama and current affairs to the broad mix on offer - a
mix which has kept ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Daytime as the market leader.
"She has also ensured that ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Daytime is highly responsive to
news events, from Concorde's last flight to the Beslan school siege.
"She leaves Daytime in really good health on both ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ ONE and
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ TWO."
Jana will now begin the search for Alison's successor.
Notes to Editors
CÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ is the generic term for the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s children's programming and online
services which incorporates:
CÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and CBeebies programming on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ ONE and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ TWO;
The CÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Channel and CBeebies, the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s subscription-free, dedicated
children's digital channels, which launched in February 2002.
CÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ is aimed at six to 12 year olds and CBeebies is aimed at pre-school
children;
CÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ online and interactive services.
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