Bec Milligan appointed Channel 4 Education Editor

18 November 2013

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Channel 4 has appointed Bec Milligan to the role of Editor, Education –overseeing the commissioning of educational programming for a core audience of 14-19 year olds across the schedule on television and online.

Bec is a former series producer of BBC ONE’s The Apprentice, and has had a long and varied career as a producer and director, on programmes from BBC’s Reel History of Britain to Celebrity Masterchef. Previous credits include a range of educational and documentary content from Channel 4’s ‘Breaking Up with the Jones’ to C4 education series ‘Live Now, Pay Later’.  She has been working as an editor in the Channel 4 Formats commissioning team since May 2013.

In the role Bec will be part of Dominic Bird’s Formats Commissioning team, and will report in to Jilly Pearce, Commissioning Editor, Formats. She will also work closely with colleagues across other genres in the commissioning team in identifying areas for collaboration on educational content.

Channel 4 has a particular commitment to providing educational content for 14 to 19 year olds as part of its remit. Having identified the gap in provision for this age group and undertaken significant qualitative and quantitative research, Channel 4’s strategy is to focus its content on ‘life skills’ for that audience, through an engaging and entertaining prism.  

Areas already being briefed to indies included themes such as online behaviour, sex and relationships and family and friendships – bridging the knowledge gap that is left between what schools teach and what parents teach.

As part of this strategy there will be a greater focus on commissioning educational content for television to maximise its reach with the audience – delivered on Channel 4, E4 and 4oD.   This will be complemented by a range of online educational commissions supporting shows with strong teen appeal.

Announcing the new role, Dominic Bird said:

“I am delighted that Bec has accepted the role of Education Editor for Channel 4. Her stellar range of must-see programme credits and experience in making both entertaining and educational TV makes her the perfect person to drive a Channel 4 education strategy which puts television content firmly at its heart.”