Katie Derham defects from ITV to the BBC

By Patrick McLennan
( What's on TV )
published

Katie Derham defects from ITV to the BBC
Katie Derham defects from ITV to the BBC (Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

Katie Derham is leaving ITV to join the BBC. The move comes days after The One Show presenter Adrian Chiles announced he was quitting the BBC for ITV, where he will present GMTV. Newsreader Katie is leaving to pursue her passion for music and will be presenting the BBC's coverage of the Proms for BBC Two and Radio 3. She said: "I'm thrilled to be joining the BBC Proms team at the start of such a fantastic season.It's going to be tremendous fun bringing viewers in-depth coverage from the concerts and digging deeper into the history of some of the wonderful music." David Mannion, editor-in-chief at ITV News, said: "Katie is an exceptional talent and we shall miss her a great deal. Music is, however, one of her greatest loves and this opportunity was always going to be very difficult for her to resist." Katie, 39, presents ITV's lunchtime news bulletin and London Tonight and has hosted the Classical Brits a number of times. She started her career at the BBC where she was a researcher on Radio 4's Moneybox. She became consumer affairs correspondent for BBC television in 1996 and was also a reporter for Film '96 and Film '97. At ITN the Cambridge graduate anchored coverage of elections, royal weddings and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Patrick McLennan
Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.