Channel 4 Announce New Head Of Entertainment

Channel 4 has confirmed the appointment of Ben Caudell as Head of Entertainment. Mr Caudell is currently Head of Comedy at Objective Productions. The appointment follows last month's news that the entertainment team would report to Liam Humphreys as part of a combined Factual Entertainment team.

In his current role, Mr Caudell is responsible for executive producing Objective's scripted comedy programmes including Toast of London, Peep Show and BBC 3's Witless, leading the comedy development team and pin pointing talent both on and off screen. Prior to this, he was Creative Director at Zeppotron, a company he co-founded in 2000. Zeppotron's output during his time there included Black Mirror, Channel 4's Alternative Election Night, You Have Been Watching, The Law of the Playground and Space Cadets.

Syeda Irtizaali will remain as commissioning editor entertainment reporting to Ben. Syeda's credits include The Last Leg, Alan Carr: Chatty Man and the C4 Comedy Gala.

Channel 4 has also said Madeleine Knight, a Commissioner in Entertainment, is to leave the channel to pursue other opportunities, after five years commissioning shows including 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Fifteen To One, and the upcoming Time Crashers.

An Editor will also be appointed to the entertainment team.

As part of the restructure a new role of Commissioning Editor, Live and Events has been created reporting to Ed Havard, Head of Sport and TV Events and Sport. Tom Beck, currently a Commissioning Editor in Entertainment, has been appointed to this role.

Jay Hunt, Chief Creative Officer said: "Ben's appointment heralds a new era of entertainment at 4. He's a wonderfully eclectic creative and couldn't feel a better fit with the channel. In live events, Tom will champion the sort of big set piece events the channel has started to own."

Liam Humphreys, Head of Factual Entertainment, said: "Ben is a huge talent, he has a unique take on the entertainment world and is brimming with original ideas. I'm thrilled to be working with him to create the next chapter of Channel 4's entertainment."

Ben Caudell added: "I'm sorry to be leaving Objective so soon, but the opportunity to be a part of the new wave of entertainment at Channel 4 has proved too exciting. I look forward to working with Liam, the entertainment team, and all the amazing performers and producers involved in Channel 4's entertainment output to make sure we keep its great shows great, and hopefully add some exciting new ideas into to the mix."

www.channel4.com

(JP)