David Farnor | On 19, Dec 2018

Fiona Campbell has been appointed as the new Controller of BBC Three.

Fiona’s current role is as Head of BBC Studios’ Documentary Unit and has a wealth of experience in commissioning storytelling that reaches young audiences. Prior to joining BBC Studios, Fiona was the Digital Director for BBC News, responsible for BBC News online and other digital platforms including the mobile app. She had editorial oversight of all of BBC News’s digital platforms and was responsible for the creation of high quality content in a range of formats that met young audiences’ needs and changing consumption patterns. Her focus was on innovation and reaching underserved audiences, particularly young people. The partnership she launched between BBC Factual Commissioning and BBC News produced content such as the feature ‘The food supplement that ruined my liver’, which was the most successful feature piece ever published on the BBC News website with 5 million readers in the first 24 hours.

Previously, Fiona worked in Factual commissioning as Head of Current Affairs for the BBC and Head of Documentaries and Features for BBC Three. In this role, she commissioned the BBC iPlayer boxset Unsolved, the Live Riots special, Britain’s Gay Footballers, Oscar Pistorius: What Really Happened? and Tulisa – The Price of Fame. Prior to working at the BBC, she was a Commissioning Editor for Channel 4.

She will take over from Damian Kavanagh, who has been named Managing Director of Peaky Blinders co-producer Tiger Aspect. Kavanagh has overseen huge growth and success in the online channel’s early years, with BBC Three programmes receiving 4 million BBC iPlayer requests and 1.5 million YouTube views per week, with a weekly Facebook reach of over 10 million. With growth across all platforms, BBC Three has been responsible for creating programmes which have combined audience popularity and critical acclaim such as This Country, Murdered for Being Different, People Just Do Nothing and Drugsland. BBC Three was RTS Channel of the Year in 2017.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to lead one of the UK’s most exciting services for young people,| says Campbell. “BBC Three has always had its finger on the pulse of what young audiences want and the content represents the beating heart of innovation, risk taking and creativity at the BBC. This is an incredibly exciting time for the channel as it invests in talent, expands into entertainment formats and continues to experiment across the key areas of comedy and factual. With the whole of the BBC supporting us, I can’t wait to begin working with the teams in London and Birmingham to take BBC Three to the next level.”

Charlotte Moore, BBC Director of Content, adds: “We had a very strong field for the role, but Fiona was the standout candidate. She is a wonderful creative leader with a wealth of broadcasting and digital experience. She has a proven track record of innovation, creativity and an ability to reach young audiences. She knows how to make great content that appeals to people of all backgrounds and will bring a new dimension to all of BBC Three’s programmes, from drama and comedy to factual and entertainment. We want to build on BBC Three’s brilliant programming successes with titles like Fleabag, This Country, Killing Eve, Clique, Life and Death Row and Stacey Dooley Investigates, and we are convinced that the exciting ideas that Fiona presented will make sure BBC Three continues to be the home of young British programme making talent and ideas.”

Fiona will start the role in the new year.

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