Michael Grade named as new BBC chairman

Michael Grade, the former head of Channel 4, will be the next BBC chairman, Downing Street has confirmed today.

Mr Grade, who was a BBC executive in the mid-80s, will head up the corporation's board of governors following Gavyn Davies's resignation over the Hutton report in January. The appointment will be for a period of four years, and he takes effective control of the board from May 17.

Mr Grade beat off competition from 78 other hopefuls – including the well-respected internal candidate David Dimbleby – to win the £80,000-a-year four-day-a-week post. The former Tory whip Lord Ryder, who had acted up as BBC chair until a successor was found, will now step aside.

Gavyn Davies's appointment in 2001 was accompanied by claims of cronyism as he was a donor to the Labour party. There will be no such suggestion this time around. In accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, the new chairman has stated that he has no present or past political affiliation, has never been a member of any political party and has never made a donation of any size to a political party.

Mr Grade is also viewed as an independent – his maverick reputation born in so small part to the disagreement with John Birt (now the blue-skies thinker and Labour peer Lord Birt) which prompted Mr Grade's departure from the BBC in 1988.

His main strength is widely considered to be in programme scheduling, where he displays a streetwise savvy for audience trends – he launched EastEnders, the Word and Eurotrash; drove up audiences for Panorama and Omnibus; and he also oversaw Channel 4's backing of films such as Trainspotting and Four Weddings and a Funeral.

His tenure ay Channel 4 saw a huge upswing in viewing figures – and a massive backlash from the Daily Mail who dubbed him the 'pornographer-in-chief' for what it viewed as his bawdy populism.

Commenting on the appointment, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell today said: "Michael is the right man at the right time. He has a passion for broadcasting, especially public service broadcasting. He knows it inside out. And he has the energy to lead the BBC from the front, defending its independence and integrity from all comers.

"The Nolan appointment process, exceptionally aided by Dame Rennie

Fritchie's scrutiny panel, has produced a Chairman the BBC can be truly proud of."

Michael Grade's immediate concern will be determining the next director-general, but in the longer term he must take the BBC into the 2006 charter review at a time when industry and political figures seem more determined than ever to reorganise the corporation and scrap its 82-year-old licence fee.

The nephew media mogul Lou Grade, the 61-year-old has enormous broadcasting experience behind him: deputy controller of entertainment at LWT in the 1973; director of programmes at LWT in 1977; BBC One controller in 1984; BBC director of programming in 1986; chief executive of Channel 4 in 1988; and chairman of Pinewood Studios in 1997.

He has also taken on a number of public appointments and non-executive directorships. Since 2002, he has been Chairman of the Camelot Group, operators of the National Lottery; a non-executive director of the Scottish Media Group; interim Chair of the Television Corporation; Chairman of the Royal National Theatre's Development Council; a member of the Council of the Royal Albert Hall; and a trustee of the National Film and Television School and of the World Wildlife Fund.

He is also a director of the Gate Theatre in Dublin, Chairman of Index on Censorship and is on the Board of Charlton Athletic Football Club.

Today's announcement confirmed that Mr Grade would be resigning from the boards of Camelot, SMG and the Television Corporation before May 17, as well as from a number of other commercial and pro bono appointments. He will retain his non-executive chairmanship of Pinewood Shepperton and the Chairmanship of Hemscott Group Plc.

(gmcg)