The director of BBC Children’s, Alice Webb, is leaving the pubcaster in the spring. She is stepping down from the newly combined position leading children’s and education—which she just took on in May—to become the CEO of Universal Music’s TV business Eagle Rock Entertainment.
In an email to the BBC Children’s team Webb said that BBC Children’s was the best place in the world. “We have pushed ourselves arguably harder and faster than anywhere else in the BBC to keep up with young audiences changing tastes and habits. We won the argument for more funding, we launched new products just for children, we made shows for teens, we set up our very own festival, we branched out into cinema and so much more.”
BBC’s kids shows are regularly the most watched on its SVOD iPlayer and the linear kids channels are still the most watched channels in the UK, Webb says in her note. She doesn’t give an exact date for her departure.
Webb has spent 15 years at BBC and has served as director of Children’s since 2015. Prior to that, she was the COO at BBC North, and a program director at Project North.
The search has begun for her replacement, she told her colleagues. In the meantime, BBC Learning’s creative director Helen Foulkes will oversee learning-related activities on a day-to-day basis and Cheryl Taylor serves as the head of content for BBC Children’s.
The BBC has undergone a few recent changes to staffing in recent months: Sarah Muller rejoined the team as head of acquisitions and animation after Jackie Edwards left to lead the British Film Institute’s Young Audiences Content Fund earlier this year.