The BBC has appointed Poppy Dixon, former head of documentaries at Sky, as its new Head of Documentaries, taking over Britain's most prominent role in the genre from Clare Sillery, who left the corporation earlier this year after a long tenure. The move is significant for British broadcasting because Dixon is widely regarded as one of the industry's leading figures, having built an award-winning reputation during her five years running Sky Documentaries, and she now steps into a much larger operation overseeing a substantially bigger volume of output.

Dixon's hits at Sky included Lockerbie, Boyzone: No Matter What, Libby, Are You Home Yet? and Misha and the Wolves. At the BBC she will oversee series such as Murder: 24/7, Once Upon A Time In Space, Ambulance and Freddie Flintoff's Field of Dreams, starting later this summer, reporting to newly appointed Director of Factual Fiona Campbell. The appointment follows a wider reshuffle under content boss Kate Phillips, which also created a Director of Entertainment role filled by former Universal International Studios executive Ed Havard.