Channel 4's all-star comedy line-up

Channel 4's Head of Comedy Phil Clarke has announced several changes within his team.

Former Commissioning Editor Fiona McDermott (top) has been promoted to Acting Deputy Head Of Comedy effective immediately while Nerys Evans is on Maternity Leave, and Rachel Springett has now been made a permanent Commissioning Editor within the team. Liz Lewin, the newest recruit as Comedy Commissioner, will be with the team until Evans’ return in February 2015, when she will resume her role as Deputy Head of Comedy.

Fiona McDermott joined C4 as Commissioner in 2011 after having been a producer for Zeppotron and Objective on shows including Screenwipe, You Have Been Watching, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Would I Lie To You, and Robert’s Web. Since joining the channel her commissions have included Cardinal Burns 1, Very Important People and the launch of Ch 4’s web-only short form comedy hub Comedy Blaps in 2012.  Fiona is currently working across Derek, The Mimic, Raised By Wolves, Man Down, Friday Night Dinner, Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy, and the forthcoming new shows Scrotal Recall and Catastrophe.

Rachel Springett (bottom) started her career as a producer at Bwark, Pett and Objective Productions where she produced shows including Toast of London, Pappy’s Comedy Lab and Meet the Parents. Since joining Channel 4 in late 2012, she has worked across Roisin Conaty’s Gameface pilot, Drifters, Cardinal Burns 2, I’m Spazticus and the Raised By Wolves pilot. This year she will also be overseeing the returning series of Toast of London and Drifters as well the 2014 Black Mirror Christmas special.  She has also commissioned Comedy Blaps by Claudia O’Doherty, Roisin Conaty, Daniel Simonson and Liam Williams.

Liz Lewin joins from Company Pictures where she was Series Producer on recent comedy London Irish for Channel 4 and both series of drama Beaver Falls for E4. Lewin began her career working for Tessa Ross CBE while at the BBC Independent Commissioning Group. From there she moved to Tiger Aspect where she worked on a variety of projects including 20 Things to do Before You're 30 and all four series of Teachers for Channel 4 plus Playing the Field and The Things I haven't Told You for the BBC. She followed this up with a stint at in-house comedy at the BBC.

The team is completed by Assistant Editor Laura Riseam, who oversees Blaps, the Channel’s vehicle for encouraging brand new comedy ideas and talent, and  the channels stand-up comedy licence output,  as well as genre assistant Sharn Matharu who oversees everyone.