Shuffle

So Peter Salmon, 59, becomes the first Director of BBC Studios. The boy from Burnley's been good for MediaCityUK (he headed his farewell email to staff there "Au Revoir Chucks"), but he's managed to avoid the promised purchase of "a family home" oop north since becoming Director of BBC North at the end of 2008. The bulk of his new work will be in London, reached with ease from his Twickenham base, and he can turn up in person more often at the Executive team meetings.

In another of the straddling roles that are becoming daily more noticeable at the BBC, Helen Boaden, Director of Radio, also 59, covers the Salmon gap, as Director of  BBC England - she already has a seat on the full Executive. Helen has radio career roots in Leeds and Manchester, and presumably can fire to the various meetings around her new patch both from London, and her holiday home in the shadow of Scarborough Castle.

Trebles all round, as Lord Hall can say: "There will be no additional executive posts and no salary changes."