| Jay Hunt | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jacqueline Leigh Hunt 1967 (age 44–45) Sydney, Australia |
| Occupation | Television executive |
| Title | Chief creative officer, Channel 4 |
| Predecessor | new creation |
| Successor | Incumbent |
| Spouse | Ian Blandford |
| Children | 1 son, 1 daughter |
Jay Hunt (born Jacqueline Leigh Hunt in Sydney, Australia), is a United Kingdom-based television executive, appointed to the new post of Chief Creative Officer, Channel 4.[1] She is a former controller of BBC One.
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Hunt was born in Sydney, Australia, and lived in Pittsburgh and Crete before moving permanently to London. Hunt's father John is Emeritus Professor of Organisational Behaviour at the London Business School. Her sister is the BBC presenter, Kristina Murrin.
Hunt was educated at the independent Lady Eleanor Holles School in Hampton in West London, followed by St John's College at the University of Cambridge, where she read English.[2]
Hunt joined the BBC in 1989 as a researcher, working on BBC Breakfast News. She went on to work on Newsnight and Panorama, subsequently becoming editor of first the BBC One's One O'Clock News and the Six O'Clock News.
Hunt became BBC Birmingham's Executive Producer for Daytime in 2002, being promoted to Senior Commissioning Executive for Daytime in 2003 and then Controller of BBC Daytime and Early Peak with responsibility for programming across both BBC One and BBC Two between 9am and 7pm. In this role, she commissioned Great British Menu, Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, The Heirhunters, Missing.
Hunt briefly left the BBC for six months in 2007, to replace Dan Chambers as Controller of Programmes for Five,[3] from where she poached Natasha Kaplinsky from the BBC.[4] At Five, she commissioned Cowboy Builders, Extreme Fishing with Robson Green, Police Interceptors, Breaking into Tesco and Britain's Best Home.
On 3 December 2007 it was announced that she would be returning to the BBC to take up the vacant post of Controller of BBC One in early 2008, replacing the resigning Peter Fincham following criticism over the handling of A Year with the Queen.[5] After handling fallout with regards to her support of Jonathan Ross after the Sachsgate incident she underlined her objections to use of the word golliwog by Carol Thatcher,[6] while still condoning the consumption of alcohol in the BBC workplace.[7] In 2009 Hunt was accused of a conflict of interest after it was revealed she was secretary of a production company owned by her husband which had a contract with the BBC. The BBC said this did not breach their conflict of interest policy.[8]
In 2008 and 2009 BBC One won MGEITF Terrestrial Channel of the Year. At BBC One her commissions included Sherlock, Criminal Justice, Five Daughters, Come Fly with Me, Mrs Brown's Boys, The Day the Immigrants Left, Famous, Rich and Homeless, Let's Dance for Comic Relief.
In September 2010, Channel4 announced Hunt's appointment to the new post of Chief Creative Officer. Immediately placed on "gardening leave" from the BBC, she joined Channel 4 in January 2011. While on leave, Hunt was a witness at the employment tribunal of former-Countryfile presenter Miriam O'Reilly, who accused Hunt of ageism, sexism and that she "hated women."[9] In January 2011, the day after Hunt began working at Channel 4, O'Reilly's claims for age discrimination and victimisation were upheld.[10] As part of her strategy to improve the quality of Channel 4 News, from spring 2011 Hunt hired Matt Frei (Washington), Jackie Long (Social Affairs) and Michael Crick (Political Correspondent) from the BBC.
Hunt married Ian Blandford, a former BBC News employee who now works for the BBC College of Journalism and Brightspark TV, in June 2005 in Kensington. They have a son and daughter and live in Clapham.
| Media offices | ||
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| Preceded by Peter Fincham |
Controller of BBC One 2008-2010 |
Succeeded by Danny Cohen |