As part of the new structure for BBC Television, Syeda Irtizaali has been appointed to BBC One and Jo Smith to BBC Two and Four as Portfolio Editors.
Both roles will report directly to Dan McGolpin, Director of BBC iPlayer and Channels, who will bring together all of the programming and curation activity across BBC iPlayer and the channels.
Irtizaali and Smith will be tasked with helping shape the editorial strategy and priorities for the channels to ensure they are maintained as distinctive brands within the portfolio. This will involve collaboration with the Genre Directors to commission programming whilst supporting the channel schedules.
Dan McGolpin, Director, BBC iPlayer and channels, says: “In Syeda and Jo we have two passionate and inspired leaders who will ensure that BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four continue to progress as modern, relevant and much-loved channels. I’m really excited for the future as we bring together the channels and iPlayer as one team to serve the audience across broadcast platforms and the internet. We can move quickly as viewing habits change and working together with the genre commissioning teams we will ensure that the programmes always come first.”
Syeda Irtizaali joined the BBC in February 2020 as Commissioning Editor in Entertainment, where she has overseen a range of brands including Top Gear and Masterchef, and commissioned new shows including Jack Whitehall’s Sporting Nation, Bamous and Peter Crouch Save Our Summer. Prior to that she was a commissioning editor at Channel 4 responsible for commissioning hits such as Alan Carr: Chatty Man, Million Pound Drop, The Big Narstie Show and The Last Leg.
Syeda started her career as a journalist in BBC news. She then went on to work as a producer and executive producer in entertainment and factual entertainment across many independent production companies including Monkey, Planet 24, Diverse, At It and Brighter.
Jo Smith has been Executive Editor for BBC Three since 2019, where she has been a key part of the team implementing BBC Three’s iPlayer first commissioning strategy. Alongside this, she has Executive produced shows including Hot Property and Fight For First: Excel esports. She joined the BBC in 2018 as an Executive Producer, prior to joining she worked on many popular factual and factual entertainment titles including 24 Hours In A&E, One Born Every Minute and Embarrassing Bodies.
They will start in their new roles on 12 April.
Jon Creamer
Share this story
