Wessex rises again

The re-parcelling of the UK by the BBC continues under new Director of Nations and Regions, Ken "Baron McHardup" MacQuarrie.

Pat Connor has been anointed (I can find no trace of an ad) as Countess Director of the South West. She also retains her current role as BBC England's Head of Development and Events. Pat started in the BBC at Radio Bristol, rose to the giddy heights of Zoe Ball's producer for Ibiza weekend in 1998, and has travelled through the Culture Show and development work for BBC Arts. Along the way she picked up a Master's degree in film and an RHS foundation qualification in horticulture and landscape design.

Her patch "extends from Bristol down to Cornwall", which will clearly include pacifying Mebyon Kernow. Already in place across the rest of the UK, we have Alice Webb, as part-time Director of the North and Joe Godwin, Director of Midlands. One presumes there'll be pressure for a Director of South and South East, under-portrayed since the cancellation of Howards' Way; and East Anglia - whose dark story has never been fully told by Auntie.