Alex Mahon

The announcement comes amid a slew of new commissions and announcements from the broadcaster, as Chief Executive Alex Mahon and Director of Programming Ian Katz, addressed Channel 4 staff about the future of the channel.

Katz revealed a five-point plan which, he believes, will secure the broadcaster against threats posed by competitors, and will ensure that Channel 4 retains its crown as the youngest-skewing public service channel in the world.

Among those aims was a renewed focus on comedy for the channel and its on-demand platform All4.

On 5 June, Channel 4’s Chairman, Charles Gurassa, announced that Alex Mahon, best known for her business deals alongside Elisabeth Murdoch at Shine, was to be the broadcaster’s seventh chief executive. When she arrives in the autumn, she will have to take a number of critical decisions that will require every bit of her famously big brain.