Elaine Bedell steps down

ITV’s comedy chief Elaine Bedell is stepping down in the latest shuffle of senior broadcasting executives across the industry.

Her departure after seven years as director of entertainment and comedy comes a few days after ITV director of television Peter Fincham, announced he, too, was leaving.

And last week the BBC lost both its head of comedy production, Myfanwy Moore, and senior comedy executive Ben Farrell.

Bedell has been responsible for overseeing some of ITV’s biggest shows such as Britain’s Got Talent, The X Factor and I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!, as well as comedies such as Benidorm, Birds Of A Feather, The Job Lot and Plebs.

Bedell said: ‘I more or less arrived at ITV at the same time as Susan Boyle — and from that extraordinary audition moment on, it has been the most exhilarating seven years… I’m very proud of our output, but seven years is a long time to be a commissioner and it’s time for me to move on and let someone else make their mark.’

Fincham said: ‘Elaine has been a tremendous colleague over the past seven years and has led the entertainment and comedy team with unswerving commitment and enormous flair. I can completely understand why she wants to seek new pastures and I wish her the very best of luck.’

Before joining ITV, Beddell was the BBC’s commissioning editor for features and factual entertainment, where she also worked with Fincham. Her responsibilities there included The One Show.

Last week it was also announced that Kim Shillinglaw would be standing down as controller of BBC Two, further adding to the shake-up at the top of TV.

Published: 28 Jan 2016