EXCLUSIVE: With a return to linear just around the corner, BBC3 channel controller Fiona Campbell is to take on Patrick Holland’s Factual, Arts and Classical Music brief temporarily from this week, as the network seeks a Channel Editor to support Campbell.
Holland is departing to Banijay UK to be Executive Chair in April and a note to staff from BBC Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore, seen by Deadline, said he will stand down from “commissioning responsibilities straight away,” focusing instead on “special projects” for the next few months.
The move has most likely been made to avoid conflicts of interest as Holland is moving to the production sector, and a similar decision was taken when Comedy Director Shane Allen departed to run his own indie earlier this year.
Campbell will take over Holland’s vast brief until a replacement is found, with the search set to kick off in “due course,” according to Moore’s memo.
“Fiona is an outstanding creative leader and will be working with the very best team in the business,” added the note.
The move comes at a busy time for Campbell, who is to oversee the return of BBC3 to linear TV in February 2022, six years after it came off air.
She will therefore be supported by a Channel Editor on an initial six-month attachment, with an advert posted today. Channel Editors support controllers with the day-to-day running of a linear network.
Campbell was the only Channel Controller to keep her position when the BBC drastically restructured its commissioning team last year, with Holland moving from BBC2 to factual, BBC1’s Moore taking on her expanded Chief Content Officer role and BBC4’s Cassian Harrison seconded to BBC Studios.
Moore’s email hailed Holland as a “brilliant leader who achieved great success commissioning an impressive range of award winning and distinctive programs across all genres and channels.”
He has been with the BBC for around a decade, starting out in documentaries, and will take over from Peter Salmon at Banijay, news that was also revealed this morning in what has been a busy day for the UK sector.
Potential permanent replacements for Holland, who earned £230,000 ($304,000) last year, include Danny Horan, who is soon to leave his role as Channel 4 Head of Factual, or internal candidates such as Catherine Catton, Jack Bootle or Clare Sillery.
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