£1m BBC deal signed

Dom Joly has quit Channel 4 for the BBC in a £1million deal.

The Trigger Happy TV star will front a number of "leftfield" shows for the BBC over the next two years, and is being lined up as a face of the planned youth channel, BBC3.

This move is seen as a coup by the corporation, and a blow to Channel 4 - which has lost a number of comedy executives to Channel 5.

Joly, 34, told MediaGuardian.co.uk: "The BBC is the ideal place to allow me to make curious comedy programmes and factual shows with no facts in them.

"I want to make different types of programmes and I'm genuinely excited by the opportunity that moving to the BBC has offered me."

Channel 4 lost entertainment head Kevin Lygo to Channel 5 this summer, taking most of his team with him - leading to concerns over the future diecton of the channel.

Published: 21 Dec 2001