Kim Shillinglaw

Start the week reviewing Sugar Films’ cash flow and trying to get my head around a new accounting software system. Any of my former CFOs will know that I wasn’t put on planet Earth to do this, but I plough on gamely.

One of the things I discover is that the BBC pitch system doesn’t tell you when a commissioner has been made redundant. So an idea that I thought must be getting lots of consideration has actually been languishing, lonely and unread, in a dead Dropbox on the BBC server. Note to self – don’t take it personally.

Moore will report to Mark Linsey, Acting Director of Television, and will continue to sit on the TV Board. She said that she was "honoured" to lead the channels in her new role. 

The show is coming back to BBC Two having originally run from 1998 to 2001 on the channel, before moving to Channel 5 for a final series in 2003.

The six-part series promises even more innovative fighting machines thanks to a raft of technological advances in the 12 years since it was last on air, as well as a behind the scenes look at the science of the robots featured.

Alan Tyler, BBC Acting Controller of Entertainment Commissioning, promised “a mix of real people, real passion and raw power.”

When Kim Shillinglaw became Controller of BBC Two last year, one of her predecessors took her for a drink. Roly Keating had launched BBC Four, moved on to BBC Two and filled in as temporary boss of BBC One. In a meeting room in New Broadcasting House, Shillinglaw recalls with terrible clarity what he told her.

“He said, ‘You will find BBC Two is the toughest. Let me tell you that now. BBC Four has a lot of individual commissions but not very much money, so there’s a limit to how many things it can commission.