Alan Yentob, BBC Creative Director, announced today (Monday 4 April)
the appointment of Alison Sharman as the new Controller
of CBBC.
Alison Sharman, currently Controller of BBC Daytime, will become the
creative leader of the two children's channels, the CBBC 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 CBBC 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 CBBC, 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 BBC 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 CBBC will go from strength to strength."
Alison Sharman said: "CBBC is the BBC 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 BBC as I did in my youth; for the BBC 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 BBC Daytime, and has pioneered the introduction
of original drama and current affairs to the broad mix on offer - a
mix which has kept BBC Daytime as the market leader.
"She has also ensured that BBC 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 BBC ONE and
BBC TWO."
Jana will now begin the search for Alison's successor.
Notes to Editors
CBBC is the generic term for the BBC's children's programming and online
services which incorporates:
CBBC and CBeebies programming on BBC ONE and BBC TWO;
The CBBC Channel and CBeebies, the BBC's subscription-free, dedicated
children's digital channels, which launched in February 2002.
CBBC is aimed at six to 12 year olds and CBeebies is aimed at pre-school
children;
CBBC online and interactive services.
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