Nicked up

It's a burden, but Nick Betts will have to live with it. He's Mark Linsey's first major appointment to BBC Studios, and thus must be better in Mark's eyes than all the people that Peter Salmon picked - and Mark elbowed out.

Nick will be Head of Scripted, a term used by tv hipsters to describe a subset of programmes rather than just a past participle. I'd guess he's 50, with a 2.1 in Business Studies from Sheffield Hallam, and a career that moved into broadcasting after six years with market research and business consultancy Frost and Sullivan. He's worked at BBC Worldwide, UKTV, NBC in Europe and then back to Auntie. He's currently Controller of Business, Drama, Films and Acquisitions, on a package of £217,800, down from a 2013 peak of £237,800. His present line manager, Bal Samra (£322,800) must drive a hard bargain.