Channel 4 Appoints Hamish Mykura as New Head of Documentaries

22 February 2008

Hamish Mykura, Head of Documentaries

Channel 4 has announced the appointment of Hamish Mykura as its new Head of Documentaries.

Mykura, who is currently Head of Specialist Factual at Channel 4 overseeing commissioning of the channel's history, science and religion output, replaces Angus MacQueen who resigned as Head of Documentaries last month to return to filmmaking.

He will continue to report to Channel 4 Head of Programmes, Julian Bellamy. A replacement for Mykura as Head of Specialist Factual will be recruited in due course.

Bellamy said: "The range and quality of Channel 4's documentary output tends to be a leading indicator of how effectively we're delivering against our broader public service remit, so I'm delighted a commissioner of Hamish's experience and insight is eager to take up this key role."

Mykura added: "The documentary brief at Channel 4 is one of the most exciting and varied commissioning roles within television, ranging from popular innovations like The Secret Millionaire and Meet the Natives to feature-length landmarks like the Lie of the Land. It represents an irresistible new challenge."

Commissions from Mykura's specialist factual department have been amongst Channel 4's most critically-acclaimed and talked-about programmes in the first few weeks of 2008. Five part historical drama, City of Vice, about Henry Fielding and the policing of 18th-century London debuted with 3.1 million viewers, while earlier this week feature-length documentary Day of the Kamikaze secured an overnight audience of 2.3m.

Mykura was one of Channel 4's most active commissioners in 2007, responsible for a string of high-profile and hotly debated programmes including Diana: The Witnesses In the Tunnel, The Great Global Warming Swindle, The Human Footprint, Richard Dawkins's Enemies of Reason, historical parenting series Bringing Up Baby and feature-length historical drama The Relief of Belsen, which last month won a Broadcast Award for Best Single Drama.

Hamish Mykura joined Channel 4 in 2001 as Commissioning Editor, History, becoming Head of History in 2003 and subsequently taking on additional oversight of the channel's religion and science programming. He has been responsible for a range of award-winning programmes including Bafta-winner Nuremberg: Goering's Last Stand and 9/11: The Falling Man.

Before joining Channel 4, Mykura was Head of Programmes at Blakeway Productions, an independent production company that specialises in history and politics programmes. Here he produced and directed several of his own films, including Crawfie - the tragic story of Marion Crawford, the Queen's governess.

He has also been a series producer at Mentorn and worked for 10 years at the BBC.