Lorraine Heggessey

Lorraine Heggessey (born November 16 1956cite web|url=http://media.guardian.co.uk/columnists/story/0,,368725,00.html|title=Two Halves of a Zodiac Coin at the BBC|first=Maggie|last=Hyde|publisher=Guardian Unlimited|format=Requires free registration|date=2000-09-15|accessdate=2007-01-21] ) is a British television producer and executive, currently the Chief Executive of the production company talkbackTHAMES. Prior to this, she was the first ever woman to be Controller of BBC One, the primary television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation.cite news|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article11208.ece|title=The first woman at the helm of BBC1 quits to go commercial|publisher=The Independent|first=Ciar|last=Byrne|date=2005-02-15|accessdate=2007-01-20]

Early career

Heggessey earned an Upper Second Class BA Honours degree in English Language & Literature from Durham Universitycite web|url=http://www.wacl.info/popupbiog.html?itemId=i3500|title=Lorraine Heggessey|publisher=Women in Advertising and Communications London|month=November | year=2002|accessdate=2007-01-20] (Collingwood College), before beginning her career in local newspaper journalism. She worked initially for the Westminster Press Group,cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4264153.stm|title=How Heggessey rose through BBC ranks|publisher=BBC News Online|date=2005-02-14|accessdate=2007-01-20] where her first job was as a trainee reporter on the "Acton Gazette" local newspaper.cite news|url=http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1329984,00.html|title=We don't do dumbing down|publisher=The Guardian|first=Matt|last=Wells|date=2004-10-18|accessdate=2007-01-20]

In 1978 she applied for a BBC News traineeship, but was rejected without an interview. She then worked voluntarily in hospital radio and gained a paid job on a local newspaper, before re-applying for the BBC traineeship the following year, this time successfully.cite web|url=http://www.broadcastfreelancer.com/broadcast/content/ViewEditorialContentStory.do?contentId=6877|title=Getting work in TV... Lorraine Heggessey|first=Sarah|last=Kinson|publisher=Broadcast Freelancer|year=2005|accessdate=2007-01-20] She spent the next fifteen years working in current affairs programming in television.cite news|title=I'm still in control here|publisher=The Independent|first=Ian|last=Burrell|date=2004-07-24|accessdate=2007-01-20]

Current affairs career

By the early 1980s she had become a producer on the BBC's flagship current affairs series "Panorama", before she left the staff of the BBC to join Thames Television's "This Week", broadcast on the rival ITV network. She then moved on again, this time to the small independent production company Clark Productions, for whom she worked on Channel 4's current affairs programme "Hard News".cite news|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article313641.ece|title=Confessions of a job swapper|publisher=The Independent|first=Raymond|last=Snoddy|date=2005-09-19|accessdate=2007-01-20] In the early 1990s, she and the film director Ken Loach collaborated on an edition of "Hard News" which investigated the treatment of trade unionist leader Arthur Scargill by "The Daily Mirror" newspaper and investigative journalist Roger Cook. When Cook declined to be interviewed for the programme, Heggessey employed one of his own tactics from his television series "The Cook Report", "doorstepping" him outside of the Birmingham hotel in which he was staying and pursuing him, with a camera crew and asking questions, down the street as he walked away.

She also worked on another Channel 4 documentary series, "Dispatches", before returning to the BBC, where she founded the viewer feedback series "Biteback". She also secured another notable television moment when she obtained the first interview with the notorious criminal "Mad" Frankie Fraser, for "The Underworld" documentary series.cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2003/11/11/7902.shtml|title=Who is Lorraine Heggessey?|publisher=bbc.co.uk|date=2003-11-11|accessdate=2007-01-20] Working in the science department, she became Editor of the BBC One series "QED", and then executive producer of the documentary series "Animal Hospital" and "The Human Body".

Children's BBC

Heggessey was considering leaving the BBC again and returning to working in the independent sector, when she was offered the position of Head of Children's BBC. As her daughters were at the time aged four and eight, she decided to accept the role, later explaining that "Short of taking over Hamleys, this was the next best job for them." She took up this post in 1997.

It was while Head of Children's BBC that she became involved in the dismissal of "Blue Peter" presenter Richard Bacon. In October 1998, the "News of the World" newspaper revealed that Bacon had taken cocaine, and he was subsequently sacked from his job as a presenter on the high-profile children's programme.cite news|title=Blue Peter star sacked by BBC for cocaine use|publisher=The Guardian|first=Amelia|last=Gentleman|date=1998-10-19|accessdate=2007-01-20] Heggessey appeared on-screen in a specially-recorded one-minute address to viewers shown directly before the first episode of "Blue Peter" to be screened following Bacon's sacking, on October 19 1998, to explain to young viewers why Bacon had been dismissed, claiming that he had "not only let himself and the team on "Blue Peter" down, but he has also let all of you down badly."cite news|title=Blue Peter says sorry to viewers|publisher=The Guardian|first=Sarah|last=Hall|date=1998-10-20|accessdate=2007-01-20]

BBC One

In 1999 she was promoted to Director of Programmes and Deputy Chief Executive of the BBC's in-house production arm, BBC Production, responsible for supervising in-house output across all the various genres. She was in this role for little over a year however before she was promoted to Controller of BBC One, a post she took up on November 1 2000.cite news|title=Heggessey takes BBC1 senior role|publisher=Financial Times|first=Ashling|last=O'Connor|date=2000-09-15|accessdate=2007-01-20] In this position she was responsible for co-commissioning the channel's output with the various heads of department — drama, news, etc. — and deciding the channel's overall strategy and schedule. She had previously been sounded out about the job in 1997, after Michael Jackson's departure, but had turned down the opportunity as she felt she was then not yet experienced enough.cite web|url=http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,384993,00.html|title=Heggessey defends BBC news move|first=Matt|last=Wells|publisher=Guardian Unlimited|format=Requires free registration|date=2000-10-19|accessdate=2007-01-21]

During Heggessey's five years in charge, BBC One's audience share fell by 19.9%, to 23%, although this was in the context of declining audience figures across all British television channels due to increased competition from multichannel digital television. However, in 2001 BBC One overtook its main rival ITV1 in terms of annual audience share for the first time since the rival channel had launched in 1955,cite news|url=http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,597066,00.html|title=Getting One over|first=Maggie|last=Brown|publisher=The Guardian|format=Requires free registration|date=2001-11-19|accessdate=2007-01-20] although much of this was down to the success of the channel's daytime television line-up, which had its own Controller in Jane Lush.

When Heggessey arrived at the channel in November 2000, she inherited two controversial schedule changes which had been implemented the previous month, at the behest of Director-General of the BBC Greg Dyke; the main evening BBC News bulletin had been moved from 9pm to 10pm, and "Panorama" moved from a Monday night prime time slot to a later slot on Sunday nights.cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/BBC/Story/0,,383701,00.html|title= 1m viewers lost as BBC shifts Panorama to Sunday 'graveyard' slot|publisher=The Guardian|first=Matt|last=Wells|date=2000-10-17|accessdate=2007-01-20] The moving of "Panorama" attracted criticism that BBC One was sidelining serious programming in favour of more populist output.cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,626507,00.html|title=BBC scores a Homer in ratings race|first=Matt|last=Wells|publisher=The Guardian|date=2002-01-02|accessdate=2007-01-20] Heggessey publicly defended the decision despite it not being hers, claiming that "Panorama"'s ratings would have "dwindled" in its previous slot.

Heggessey and the BBC's Controller of Drama Commissioning, Jane Tranter, took advantage of the weekday 9pm slot opened up by the moving of the news to commission new popular drama output, such as the successful "Waking the Dead" (2000–present) and "Spooks" (2002–present).cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1558384,00.html|title=BBC1 boss promises drama, not docusoaps|publisher=The Guardian|first=Owen|last=Gibson|date=2005-08-29|accessdate=2007-01-20] Celebrity dancing show "Strictly Come Dancing" (2004–present) was also a popular success on Saturday nights, although another Saturday night entertainment series, "Fame Academy", faced accusations of being too derivative of the output of commercial rivals, and during Heggessey's era the channel frequently came under attack for being too populist and not providing enough serious programming.cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,856989,00.html|title=BBC gets serious in defence of flagship channel|first=Matt|last=Wells|publisher=The Guardian|date=2002-12-10|accessdate=2007-01-20]

Heggessey did later concede in a 2005 interview with "The Independent" newspaper that arts programming had suffered a cutback under her control of BBC One. However, she did respond to this omission following criticism from the Board of Governors of the BBC by commissioning programmes such as the arts documentary series "Imagine..." (2003–present) and "A Picture of Britain" (2005).cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1414747,00.html|title=BBC1 controller switches to the independent sector|publisher=The Guardian|first=Owen|last=Gibson|date=2005-02-15|accessdate=2007-01-20]

In 2002, Heggessey took the decision to abandon the traditional "Globe" idents the channel had used in a variety of forms for its between-programme idents since 1963. They were replaced by a new style of on-air identity for the channel, the "Rhythm & Movement" idents. The new idents attracted some criticism for going against the traditions of the channelcite news|title=End of the world is nigh for BBC|first=Adam|last=Sherwin|publisher=The Times|date=2002-03-27|accessdate=2007-01-20] and pandering to political correctness, as they featured activities performed by people of various ethnicities.cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4384922,00.html|title=End of the world for BBC branding|publisher=The Observer|date=2002-03-31|accessdate=2007-01-20]

One of Heggessey's most notable decisions and last major success at the channel was the re-commissioning of the science-fiction drama series "Doctor Who", which had been a popular hit in previous decades but ceased production in 1989. Heggessey and Jane Tranter commissioned a new version of the series in September 2003, after Heggessey had spent two years persuading the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, to abandon their attempts to make a feature film version of the programme and allow it instead to return to BBC One.cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/09/26/nwho26.xml|title=Doctor Who ready to come out of the Tardis for Saturday TV series|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|first=Tom|last=Leonard|date=2003-09-26|accessdate=2007-01-20] The new version of "Doctor Who" (2005–present) debuted on March 26 2005, and became a critical and popular hit,cite web|url=http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1507679,00.html|title=Doctor Who fights on ... and on|first=Matt|last=Wells|publisher=Guardian Unlimited|format=Requires free registration|date=2005-06-16|accessdate=2007-01-20] with Paul Hoggart of "The Times" newspaper describing the series as "a joyful, exuberant reinvention and a fine legacy from Ms Heggessey."cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14934-1541827,00.html|title=Just what the Doctor ordered|publisher=The Times|first=Paul|last=Hoggart|authorlink=Paul Hoggart|date=2005-03-28|accessdate=2007-01-20]

On 14 February 2005 it was announced that Lorraine Heggessey was to leave the BBC to take up the post of Chief Executive at production company talkbackTHAMES. She left on April 15. Five months after her departure, BBC One was named "Channel of the Year" at the Edinburgh Television Festival, primarily on the strength of Heggessey commissions such as "Strictly Come Dancing" and "Doctor Who".cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/entertainment/4191972.stm|title=BBC wins channel of year awards|publisher=BBC News Online|date=2005-08-27|accessdate=2007-01-20]

talkbackTHAMES

At talkbackTHAMES, Heggessey is responsible for overseeing the production of high-profile programmes such as ITV1's "The Bill" and "The X-Factor", BBC Two's "QI" and Channel 4's "Green Wing".cite web|url=http://www.fremantlemedia.com/our-programmes|title=Our Programmes|publisher=FremantleMedia|accessdate=2007-01-20] She was also responsible for delivering to BBC One in early 2006 two Stephen Poliakoff dramas that she herself had commissioned before she left the channel, "Friends and Crocodiles" and "Gideon's Daughter", the latter of which went on to win two Golden Globe Awards (Mini-series, Best Actor for Bill Nighy and Mini-series, Best Supporting Actress for Emily Blunt) in 2007.cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6265641.stm|publisher=BBC News Online|title=Golden Globes 2007: The winners|date=2007-01-16|accessdate=2007-01-20]

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0373768|name=Lorraine Heggessey