Channel 4 has appointed Marc Perkins as Senior Commissioning Editor, News and Current Affairs.

In the role, he’ll help shape the editorial and operational direction of News and Current Affairs output, with a particular focus on commissioning foreign investigations and long form films, including for  foreign affairs series, Unreported World.

Perkins has more than 25 years’ experience working in challenging and conflict areas, first as a producer and then holding a number of senior editorial roles within the BBC. Most recently he was Editor, Investigations, for BBC World Service, commissioning investigative documentaries for Europe and Asia, overseeing teams working in Russia and China in some of the most complex and hard to access areas of the world.

His prior work has won a range of awards, including Emmys, a Peabody and RTS awards and more recently the Online Journalism Award, Excellence in AI innovation, for “They Call Us Meat”, as well as a BAFTA nomination, Current Affairs, for “Inside Russia; Traitors and Heroes.”

Perkins has also previously headed up investigations for BBC Eye, establishing investigations units for China, India and Russia, specialising in far reaching and high impact journalism. Prior to that he launched and ran BBC Africa Eye and was Documentaries Editor for BBC Arabic.

Louisa Compton, Head of News and Current Affairs and Specialist Factual and Sport said: “2026 is a crucial time for foreign journalism and investigations and Marc’s exceptional track record will ensure Channel 4 continues to explain the new world order and hold power to account with investigations from some of the most challenging parts of the world.”

Marc Perkins said: “I’m delighted to be joining Channel 4, the home of brave and ambitious current affairs and look forward to continuing its fine tradition of commissioning exemplary foreign documentaries like “For Sama”, the acclaimed “Unreported World” strand and ground-breaking investigations such as “Russell Brand: In Plain Sight”. I’m also excited to collaborate with the inspiring talent across the UK’s independent production sector to develop new world-class programming for Channel 4.”

The Channel 4 team has recent wins including the 2025 British Journalism Award for Foreign Affairs Journalism – a category that also featured three other Channel 4 nominations – for Gaza: Doctors Under Attack (Basement Films), and Current Affairs Baftas for Children of the Taliban (Moondog Films) and State of Rage (Duskwater Films).

He will join Channel 4 in March.