Peter Fincham
Peter Fincham | |
---|---|
Title | Controller of BBC One (2005–2007) Director of Television for ITV (2008–2016) |
Peter Arthur Fincham (born 26 July 1956) is a British television producer and executive. From 2008 until 2016, he was the Director of Television for the
Early life
Fincham was educated at the independent
Career
TalkBack (1985–2005)
In 1985 he joined the staff of the independent production company
TalkBack became particularly well known for its comedy output, which included such shows as The Day Today (BBC Two, 1994), Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge (BBC Two, 1994), They Think It’s All Over (BBC One, 1995–2006), Never Mind the Buzzcocks (BBC Two, 1996–2015), I'm Alan Partridge (BBC Two, 1997 and 2002), Smack the Pony (Channel 4, 1999–2003) and Da Ali G Show (Channel 4, 2000). Fincham was an executive producer on many of these programmes.[4] He also helped to establish TalkBack as a noted producer in other genres, with the company moving into drama with Stephen Poliakoff's Shooting the Past (BBC Two) in 1999.
In 2001, Fincham was given an
BBC One (2005–2007)
Fincham was regarded in some quarters as a surprising choice as Controller, as prior to his appointment he had never worked for either the BBC or any other broadcaster, having spent his career in the independent production sector.[6] In 2006, The Guardian newspaper reported that he was ultimately responsible for an annual programming budget at BBC One of £873 million.[7]
Fincham oversaw the commissioning of successful BBC One programmes such as
Fincham directly initiated the creation of both the early evening current affairs and lifestyle programme The One Show (2006–present) and the prime time chat show Davina (2006), the latter designed as a vehicle for presenter Davina McCall.[10] However, Davina was a critical and ratings disaster,[11] which Fincham subsequently admitted was personally his fault, although he defended the strategy of experimenting with the BBC One schedule.[7] He made another notable change to the schedule in January 2007, when he moved the current affairs series Panorama back from Sunday nights to the prime time Monday evening slot it had been removed from in 2000, although this decision was at least partly in response to a demand from the Board of Governors of the BBC for the channel to show more current affairs programming in prime time.[12]
It was also Fincham's decision to scrap the BBC One
On 18 May 2007, Fincham decided to drop the Australian soap opera Neighbours from BBC One after twenty-one years on the channel, when its producers increased the price they wanted the BBC to pay for it in a bidding war.[16] Fincham commented that: "We'd love to have kept it but not at any price."[16]
Fincham was involved in a further controversy in July 2007, when introducing a press conference to publicise BBC One's forthcoming autumn season programming for later in the year. The season launch tape shown to journalists included a trailer from the documentary
ITV (2008–2016)
On 28 February 2008 it was announced that the
In January 2016, ITV announced that Fincham had decided to step down as Director of Television and leave the company.[24]
Personal life
Fincham's wife, Clare, runs a charity, Second Space,[25] which provides respite care for the ill and disabled and their carers. Fincham's family live in London. In music, he enjoys Bob Dylan and Neil Young.[26]
Outside of broadcasting, Fincham co-edited The Utterly Utterly Merry Comic Relief Christmas Book with author Douglas Adams in 1986.[27]
References
- ^ a b "Biographies – Peter Fincham – Controller, BBC One". BBC. November 2006. Archived from the original on 12 January 2006. Retrieved 10 January 2011.
- ^ Snoody, Raymond (8 October 2007). "Peter Fincham: The reluctant controversialist". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 16 July 2007. Retrieved 8 October 2007.
- ^ a b c Snoody, Richard (25 March 2005). "Bringing a comic touch to BBC 1". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 10 January 2011.
- ^ a b c d Barnes, Anthony (27 March 2005). "Heard the one about the man who will save BBC1 comedy?". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 19 January 2007.
- ^ a b c Gibson, Owen (28 March 2005). "Putting the fun into BBC1". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 19 January 2007.
- ^ Timms, Dominic (24 March 2005). "Fincham an 'inspired choice'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 19 January 2007.
- ^ a b Gibson, Owen (15 May 2006). "Davina was all my fault". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 19 January 2007.
- ^ Snoddy, Raymond (23 October 2006). "Back the BBC to hang on to its viewers in the multi-channel age". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 19 January 2007.
- ^ "Channel 4's Big Brother hangover". The Guardian. London. 18 October 2006. Retrieved 19 January 2007.
- ^ Wells, Matt (6 September 2006). "The One Show gets another go". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 19 January 2007.
- ^ Sutcliffe, Thomas (14 March 2006). "Don't blame Davina for this disaster". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 15 June 2006. Retrieved 19 January 2007.
- ^ Sherwin, Adam (19 January 2006). "Panorama to take on ITV soap". The Times. London. Retrieved 19 January 2007.
- ^ "25. Peter Fincham". The Guardian. London. 17 July 2006. Retrieved 19 January 2007.
- ^ Alleyne, Richard (27 September 2006). "BBC splashes out £1.2m on circle of life TV links". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 24 October 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2011.
- ^ Sherwin, Adam (10 June 2006). "BBC's £18m deal makes Ross best-paid presenter". The Times. London. Retrieved 19 January 2007.
- ^ a b "BBC pulls out of Neighbours fight". BBC News. 18 May 2007. Retrieved 18 May 2007.
- ^ "BBC apologises over Queen clips". BBC News. 12 July 2007. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
- ^ "I stay, says royal row BBC boss". BBC News. 13 July 2007. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
- ^ "Wyatt Report on HM Queen documentary". BBC Trust. 5 October 2007. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2007.
- ^ "BBC One boss quits over Queen row". BBC News. 5 October 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
- ^ Tryhorn, Chris (28 February 2008). "Fincham replaces Shaps in ITV shakeup". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
- ^ "TV schedules 'need entertainment'". BBC. 23 August 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2008.
- ^ Minchin, Tim (22 December 2011). "I'm NOT on the Jonathan Ross Show".
- ^ "Peter Fincham steps down as ITV director of television". BBC News. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
- ^ url=https://www.cafonline.org/system/charity-profile.aspx?friendlyUrl
- ^ Thorpe, Vanessa (27 March 2005). "The producer". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 8 October 2007.
- ^ "Douglas Adams". Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. 2007. Retrieved 19 January 2007.[permanent dead link]
External links
- Peter Fincham at IMDb
- BBC Press Office official biography at bbc.co.uk