Bennett's babes

Zai Bennett, the new man at the helm of BBC3, seems to have an eye for the ladies. In web searches, they come up more often than more useful biographical details. I'm guessing he's around 36 years old.

The only university I can find in his connections is fictional - Bridgeford University, home to Trinity College, in the eight part drama series "Trinity" for ITV2 in 2009, commissioned in the end for one run only by Zai.  (Kathryn Flett in the Observer was not a fan : "charmlessly crass, cynically smutty, joyless, unfunny and badly written and acted". Perhaps not great value at an estimated £4m).

Zai does reveal to the BBC Press Office that he started his working life in the post-room at Carlton TV, at the age of 21.  From there, he made a leap to be a presentation scheduler for the launch of Channel Five in 1997.  A year later, he was with ITV, where he rose to be "creative leader" of the digital channels, ITV2, 3 and 4, as well as CITV.

One important lady at ITV was his PA, Penny White, now Mrs Bennett. They live happily in Highbury Fields, north London, and enjoy the many restaurants of Upper Street, Islington.  There's clearly exercise to balance things out - they both completed a triathlon for charity in September. Penny now works as an self-employed image consultant and stylist, with clients including Abigail Clancy and Natalie Pinkham, both of whom have made appearances on ITV's digital channels.

Zai's schedules have also featured Billie Piper in The Secret Diary of A Call Girl; Katie Price in What Katy Did Next; a host of lycra-lovelies in The Only Way Is Essex; Fearne Cotton and Holly Willoughby in Celebrity Juice; Paris Hilton in My British Best Friend; and currently Kerry Katona: The Next Chapter.  At this year's Edinburgh Festival, Zai said Katy Perry was "a target for us currently. She's a brilliant bullseye person".

Perhaps this is why the BBC's Jana Bennett (no relation, I think) said of Zai today "He brings with him a real connection with the audience, a deep understanding of the digital landscape... His experience in developing original scripted drama and comedy along with his fantastic relationship with presenters and performers makes Zai perfect for this role."