Sky's supremo poached

The BBC has poached Sky TV's comedy supremo Mark Freeland in a bid to get shows on screen quicker.

Freeland, who as head of comedy commissioning was responsible for show such as The Strangerers and Time Gentlemen Please, will have a special remit for commissioning comedy from independent producers and from BBC regions.

He will join the corporation on June 10, and work closely with head of comedy entertainment Jon Plowman.

Plowman as also expanded his job to commission-house scripted comedy, Media Guardian reports.

Their brief will be to speed up the commissioning process for the four main BBC television channels - including Choice and the new arts channel BBC4.

Published: 14 Mar 2002