Kim Shillinglaw: Looking for shows that are young at heart

Today, Broadcast magazine published an interview with Controller of BBC Two and BBC Four, Kim Shillinglaw. The former commissioning editor for science and natural history at the BBC replaced Janice Hadlow in April 2014 In the interview journalist Jake Kanter talked to her about "inheriting a channel in rude health" and the future of BBC Two, which celebrated it's 50th birthday last April.

The full interview is available on the Broadcast website. We've included some excerpts below.

1. On being BBC Two Controller

“'Running any channel is exciting, but running the channel you love, care about and actually watch feels like the icing on the cake,' she adds. If that’s the icing, then Shillinglaw’s belief that BBC2 is in “fine fettle” must be the cherry on top.

The channel will almost certainly post a year of audience growth across all hours in 2014 – some achievement in a year in which Channel 4 and ITV haemorrhaged viewers. This also comes just one year after original daytime content was stripped from BBC Two’s schedule under Delivering Quality First."

2. Looking to BBC Two's future

“'Much about BBC Two just rocks on,' Shillinglaw says. She believes she has a 'great platform to try some new things and find the next turn of the wheel'. Her fingerprints will begin to appear on the channel from early this year, she believes, with some 'new things we’re excited about trying'."

3. On the BBC Two audience 

"High on her list of priorities is breathing fresh life into BBC Two’s comedy output, which comedy controller Shane Allen believes has become “homogeneous” in recent years. Shillinglaw explains: 'We’re trying to reinvent that sense of surprise around BBC Two scripted comedy.'

This is the nub of Shillinglaw’s vision for BBC Two. 'BBC Two is a fundamentally grown-up channel, but it should be young at heart,' she says. 'If you are 60, you grew up with punk. It’s easy to forget that people who are biologically not in their first flush of youth are very young at heart today. We have to make sure that BBC Two doesn’t waste its audience’s time.'"

• Read the full interview 'Kim Shillinglaw, BBC' on Broadcast website.
• New commissions for BBC Two were announced today. More information on the Media Centre website.