The most senior commissioner in Channel 4’s Leeds office is to lose her job, the Guardian can reveal, leaving the broadcaster with no top decision makers living in the city of its “national headquarters”.
Caroline Hollick’s role as head of drama will be made redundant and brought under the remit of Ollie Madden, the director of Film4, as part of cost-cutting measures and will be run from Channel 4’s London office.
Hollick, who commissioned the Bafta-winning film I Am Ruth starring Kate Winslet and was behind the channel’s biggest scripted streaming debut The Couple Next Door, was the only head of department living full-time in Leeds.
Other senior staff split their time between London and Leeds, while some are “based in Leeds” and commute to the Leeds office from Manchester and the north-east, Channel 4 said.
The head of drama role is one of more than 200 of Channel 4’s 1,200 staff slated to lose their jobs. A further 40 unfilled positions will not be recruited and the broadcaster said it would sell its £90m headquarters in London and move to a smaller office.
While the cuts are understood to be focused mostly on London, given a commitment to raise its number of employees in the nations and regions from 500 to 600 by 2025, staff have raised concerns that bosses are using the redundancies to roll back progress on representing audiences outside London.
When the Leeds HQ was opened in the former Majestic nightclub in 2020, Channel 4 promised the move would make it more connected to communities across the UK, “more accessible to our partners in the industry and more visible to those that may one day work in it”.
However, its commitment to this aim has been criticised after its flagship entertainment show, Steph’s Packed Lunch, filmed at Leeds Docks and hosted by Steph McGovern, was cancelled at the end of last year.
Viewers are also still waiting to hear whether a second series of the swingers drama The Couple Next Door, filmed in Leeds and Belgium, will be commissioned.
Earlier this week, the broadcasting union Bectu said the decision of senior bosses to accept bonuses at Channel 4 was “a slap in the face” to those whose jobs are being cut.
The chief executive, Alex Mahon, the chief content officer, Ian Katz, and the chief operating officer, Jonathan Allan, all accepted reduced bonuses.
“In the midst of a very difficult period for the UK’s film and TV workforce and industry at large, news of Channel 4 executives accepting large bonuses is disappointing to say the least,” the union said.
A Channel 4 spokesperson said: “Our Fast Forward strategy is specifically designed to harness Channel 4’s regional structure and boost investment and job opportunities in all corners of the UK.”
They added: “As we transition to a digital-first public service streamer and protect our long-term sustainability, we’ve had to make some difficult decisions including a reduction in headcount.
“While this has resulted in departures across all of our locations, we have reduced our out-of-London commissioning team by a lower proportion than our London team, and we remain focused on maintaining our diversity targets, which are ahead of the working population.”
Hollick has been contacted for comment.
