Neil Reid – Current Controller of News and Current Affairs

Most likely to say: “Why don’t we just get Bruce Forsyth to present Newsnight and have done with it. Then everybody’s happy.”

A BBC stalwart, Neil has responsibility for a vastly complex news operation in a fast-moving digital age. As such, he tends to be the last to know when breaking news stories he was unaware were about to break are then subsequently broken on his programmes. He is a man with no time for fools, which can often put him in an awkward position in this job.