The BBC has promoted entertainment commissioner and diversity champion Kalpna Patel-Knight to its top entertainment role.
Patel-Knight takes up the role of head of entertainment commissioning, following a recent restructure in which former director of entertainment Kate Phillips was promoted to director of unscripted and her previous job title retired.
In her five years as a BBC commissioning editor, Patel-Knight has ordered primetime BBC1 entertainment series such as Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel, Blankety Blank and Wim Hof’s Freeze The Fear.
She has previously been head of entertainment at Possessed and has also executive produced Lime Pictures’ Celebs Go Dating and ITV Studios’ Surprise Surprise.
Patel-Knight joined the BBC through the Creative Diversity Network and Creative Skillset’s cross-broadcaster diversity programme and also established and chairs the first BBC’s Creative Diversity and Inclusion Panel, which works closely with senior leadership to action long-term change in the TV industry.
In her new role, she will oversee more than 500 hours of original commissions per year across all channels and BBC iPlayer, including new and returning series and events such as Eurovision, Comic Relief and Children In Need.
Patel-Knight starts her new role on 5 September.
The BBC will be recruiting a new entertainment commissioning editor in due course.
