PETER Fincham, the BBC 1 controller who lost his job over a documentary about the Queen, is joining rival ITV.
Mr Fincham, 51, is taking on the job of ITV's director of television, replacing Simon Shaps.
He was forced to quit as head of BBC 1 in October over footage of the Queen apparently storming out of a photoshoot with the photographer Annie Leibovi
tz.
During his two-year tenure at the BBC, Mr Fincham presided over several ratings successes, including Life On Mars, Planet Earth and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?
He was also credited with holding on to some of the channel's biggest names, including Little Britain's David Walliams and Matt Lucas, as well as Jonathan Ross and Graham Norton. He helped turn Ali G into a big name.
Mr Fincham became a multi-millionaire when Talkback, Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones's independent production company, which he joined in 1985, was sold for £62 million in 2001.
Mr Fincham said: "Becoming director of television at ITV is an irresistible new challenge and an enormously exciting opportunity.
"It is a big job to get a grip of and it will take some time. There is more to this than running BBC1."
Mr Fincham will take up his new post in the spring and be directly responsible for ITV1, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4.
The full article contains 235 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
