Evening Standard: Profile of Peter Fincham, BBC1 chief
By David Rowan
He is the multi-millionaire TV producer whose hits range from Ali G to The X Factor. But can Peter Fincham, a former musician with no experience of working inside the BBC, convince its demoralised staff that he has the public-sector credentials to take its main channel forward?
Fincham, 48, is known in the industry as a quiet charmer, always calm under pressure, yet ruthless when it comes to striking deals. He will need all his powers of persuasion to convince his new BBC1 colleagues, reeling under savage job and budget cuts, that his vision for them extends beyond the bottom line.
Although a Groucho Club regular, Fincham is not one for showmanship. He is determined to keep a low profile. But then he is more the background business manager than the programme-maker. drafted in by Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones 20 years ago to build up their small production-house, then specialising in voiceovers. He also began to manage their careers, setting up an in-house agency that now represents Graham Norton, Sara Cox and Matt Lucas.
To his credit, Fincham built the business into Britain's biggest maker of independent television shows, making over 800 hours of programmes a year and employing 800 staff. When Pearson TV, now Fremantle Media, bought the company five years ago for £62 million, he is said to have pocketed around £12 million. He stayed on to merge Fremantle's various production businesses into the powerhouse that is Talkback Thames.
"Peter is an agent by nature," says Daisy Goodwin, editorial director of the company's production arm. "He's smart, good at spotting talent, and very good at handling people. He'll be a huge hit at the BBC."
Ash Atalla, the former producer of The Office now working on Talkback's comedy shows, calls him "incredibly charming, very considered, making everyone feel at ease. He'll be telling you about a great Rolling Stones concert one minute, the next minute having a serious discussion with you about the war. You can't pigeonhole him in any particular genre."
But his most persistent interest has been in comedy, executive producing shows such as Da Ali G Show, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Smack the Pony. It was through his musical performances with the Cambridge Footlights, while a student, that he became friends with Rhys Jones. In 1977, they worked on a show together with Robert Bathurst, Rory McGrath and Jimmy Mulville.
Fincham's subsequent musical career, he has admitted, "fizzled out because I wasn't good enough". He was almost 30 by the time Rhys Jones and Mel Smith offered him a broadcasting job, based in their tiny office above a martial-arts shop in Carnaby Street. He soon developed a reputation for developing popular, ratings-driven shows, but also quirkier, more risk-taking programmes such as Chris Morris's controversial Brass Eye series. By the time the Channel 4 chief executive's job came up in 2001, and again last year, Fincham was considered a prime contender. When he lost out narrowly to Andy Duncan last year, he said: "I can't imagine what else might come up on the broadcasting side that would be more appealing than Channel 4."
So it is all the more surprising that, having quit Talkback Thames in January for "a break and a change", he is now joining the BBC - swapping jobs, in fact, with BBC1's departing controller, Lorraine Heggessey, who was hired by Talkback Thames as his replacement.
Heggessey's stewardship of BBC1 was often criticised for putting ratings above "traditional" BBC values. So will Fincham's lack of public-service experience lead the channel into an even more commercial direction?
Those who know him say Fincham is far too canny for that. "I wouldn't say he's a ratings man," Atalla says. "I've seen him get excited at X Factor audience figures, but I've also seen him stand up for programmes that deliver small ratings, if he feels they're quality bits of work."
Besides, Goodwin adds, Fincham no longer needs to prove himself in commercial terms. "He's rich enough and has done all of that. He's made a lot of money, and he understands the value of doing the right thing."
Michael Grade, the BBC chairman, must be hoping today that Goodwin is proved right.
(Evening Standard, March 24 2005)
He is the multi-millionaire TV producer whose hits range from Ali G to The X Factor. But can Peter Fincham, a former musician with no experience of working inside the BBC, convince its demoralised staff that he has the public-sector credentials to take its main channel forward?
Fincham, 48, is known in the industry as a quiet charmer, always calm under pressure, yet ruthless when it comes to striking deals. He will need all his powers of persuasion to convince his new BBC1 colleagues, reeling under savage job and budget cuts, that his vision for them extends beyond the bottom line.
Although a Groucho Club regular, Fincham is not one for showmanship. He is determined to keep a low profile. But then he is more the background business manager than the programme-maker. drafted in by Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones 20 years ago to build up their small production-house, then specialising in voiceovers. He also began to manage their careers, setting up an in-house agency that now represents Graham Norton, Sara Cox and Matt Lucas.
To his credit, Fincham built the business into Britain's biggest maker of independent television shows, making over 800 hours of programmes a year and employing 800 staff. When Pearson TV, now Fremantle Media, bought the company five years ago for £62 million, he is said to have pocketed around £12 million. He stayed on to merge Fremantle's various production businesses into the powerhouse that is Talkback Thames.
"Peter is an agent by nature," says Daisy Goodwin, editorial director of the company's production arm. "He's smart, good at spotting talent, and very good at handling people. He'll be a huge hit at the BBC."
Ash Atalla, the former producer of The Office now working on Talkback's comedy shows, calls him "incredibly charming, very considered, making everyone feel at ease. He'll be telling you about a great Rolling Stones concert one minute, the next minute having a serious discussion with you about the war. You can't pigeonhole him in any particular genre."
But his most persistent interest has been in comedy, executive producing shows such as Da Ali G Show, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Smack the Pony. It was through his musical performances with the Cambridge Footlights, while a student, that he became friends with Rhys Jones. In 1977, they worked on a show together with Robert Bathurst, Rory McGrath and Jimmy Mulville.
Fincham's subsequent musical career, he has admitted, "fizzled out because I wasn't good enough". He was almost 30 by the time Rhys Jones and Mel Smith offered him a broadcasting job, based in their tiny office above a martial-arts shop in Carnaby Street. He soon developed a reputation for developing popular, ratings-driven shows, but also quirkier, more risk-taking programmes such as Chris Morris's controversial Brass Eye series. By the time the Channel 4 chief executive's job came up in 2001, and again last year, Fincham was considered a prime contender. When he lost out narrowly to Andy Duncan last year, he said: "I can't imagine what else might come up on the broadcasting side that would be more appealing than Channel 4."
So it is all the more surprising that, having quit Talkback Thames in January for "a break and a change", he is now joining the BBC - swapping jobs, in fact, with BBC1's departing controller, Lorraine Heggessey, who was hired by Talkback Thames as his replacement.
Heggessey's stewardship of BBC1 was often criticised for putting ratings above "traditional" BBC values. So will Fincham's lack of public-service experience lead the channel into an even more commercial direction?
Those who know him say Fincham is far too canny for that. "I wouldn't say he's a ratings man," Atalla says. "I've seen him get excited at X Factor audience figures, but I've also seen him stand up for programmes that deliver small ratings, if he feels they're quality bits of work."
Besides, Goodwin adds, Fincham no longer needs to prove himself in commercial terms. "He's rich enough and has done all of that. He's made a lot of money, and he understands the value of doing the right thing."
Michael Grade, the BBC chairman, must be hoping today that Goodwin is proved right.
(Evening Standard, March 24 2005)
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