Taking an interest

I hope Richard Sharp is keeping an eye on the appointment of a new Commissioning Director BBC Factual, Arts and Classical Music. This role, previously held by Patrick Holland, is essentially No 2 to the Chief Content Officer, Charlotte Moore. 

In succession planning terms, both Charlotte Moore and Deborah Turness (if she ever turns up at Broadcasting House) are the obvious in-house candidates for DG-after-Davie. Equally, the new No 2 at Content runs the engine room that drives the audience; not necessarily in directly commissioning, but in selecting the next generation of taste-makers, and steering them.  Is BBC tv of the next ten years to be a bulk commissioner of soporific daily quizzes, antique shows and cooking programmes - or something more challenging ? The Chairman should be interested.