Channel 4’s comedy and entertainment heads are to leave the broadcaster as it prepares to overhaul its commissioning structure.
Charlie Perkins and Steve Handley’s exit comes as C4 merges its entertainment, documentaries, fact-ent divisions into a single unscripted unit, to sit alongside a combined scripted unit housing both comedy and drama.
C4 is currently recruiting for a head of scripted and head of unscripted to lead the new-look teams, both of whom will report to incoming director of programmes David Brindley.
The restructure is expected to result in the axing of up to half of commissioning roles at the broadcaster and forms part of chief executive Priya Dogra’s plan to cut 340 jobs across the company.
The move also comes as the BBC plans to merge its TV and radio commissioning teams into one unit.
Perkins joined C4 as head of comedy in late 2022, commissioning two series of sketch show Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping, narrative series such as Break Clause, It Gets Worse [pictured] and Make That Movie!, and upcoming commissions including Pidgeon and Stepping Up..
In a note to staff, director of content strategy Kiran Nataraja and director of commissioning operations Emma Hardy described Perkins as “a true champion of emerging talent both on and off-screen,” adding: “In any conversation with her it is immediately evident that she loves her genre deeply.”
Handley joined C4 eight years ago as an entertainment commissioner, becoming head of the genre in 2024. He has overseen a slate that includes Secret Genius, Tempting Fortune, Late Night, Taskmaster, The Great British Bake Off and the upcoming Derren Brown: Incognito.
