She may have been tasked with a dubiously impossible mission - to have ITV Productions supplying 75% of programming for ITV1 - but the loss of Dawn Airey as director of global content after a scant eight months heralds yet another worrying thump of a nail into the ITV coffin. Even odder is that Airey’s new job will be taking her back to Five, a company she quit five years ago for pastures new, pastures which clearly have not been all that lush.
The real question on my mind is: just what happened in the eight months that Airey served for ITV and Michael Grade? She was clearly perceived as something of a big name signing and key to Grade’s vision of ITV’s glorious future in the independent sector. But in this case, was Airey not up to scratch in her role, or was it ITV that didn’t perform to her expectations? But coming after an abortive tenure at defunct start-up Iostar, has Airey’s reputation as a reasonable channel boss lost its shine, and how will she cope back at Five?
It seems that right from the outset there were tensions in the air over at ITV towers. There were rumours of a rift between Airey and the outgoing director of television, Simon Shaps, a critical view of the company’s purchase of quiz show producer 12 Yard which she oversaw, and possible tensions over Michael Grade’s position as executive chairman being extended a further year until 2010. Airey had already been tipped to take on this role, and this must have stung.
So, was the writing already on the wall for Dawn Airey almost as soon as she stepped into the fray at the troubled broadcaster? It seems that way, and although returning to Five might be perceived a retrograde step, I believe she will achieve more things there than anybody ever could at ITV in the current climate. Yes, it’s easy to make ITV the whipping boy (look, I liked The Fixer and He Kills Coppers, okay?), but the company does seem to make it easier for us with every new story that emerges and every point that drops off the share price.
Still, at least we might get another series of Foyle’s War, eh?
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