BBC hires head of format development

BBC in-house Entertainment and Events, the Beeb branch responsible for entertainment and factual entertainment formats, announced the appointment of Sarah Edwards as head of format entertainment development. Working alongside Martin Scott, head of format entertainment in London; Helen Bullough, head of entertainment production in Manchester and Eileen Herlihy, head of entertainment and events in Scotland, Edwards will be responsible for developing new entertainment formats across all three production areas. Edwards is currently head of development, entertainment at Talkback Thames and has previously developed formats for broadcasters such as ITV (Take Me Out), the BBC (Dog Eat Dog, In It To Win It, Weakest Link, Eggheads, Hole in the Wall, Jet Set and Friends Like These) and Channel 4 (Without Prejudice and Coach Trip). She was also formerly the head of development at 12 Yard Productions. Edwards will step into her new role in January 2010.