BBC One
In 1997 he left Granada after only twenty months to return to the BBC when the job of Controller of BBC One, the corporation's primary channel, became available. This vacancy had come as something of a surprise, resulting from Michael Jackson's sudden move to Channel 4 after just a year in charge. Salmon took charge of BBC One in September 1997.
Salmon rejoined the BBC at a difficult time, when it was losing many senior executives such as Jackson to rival broadcasters. Responsible for a £652 million annual programming budget, Salmon commissioned several successful programmes, such as the drama series Clocking Off (2000–03) and the sitcoms dinnerladies (1998–2000) and My Family (2000–present).
However, prior to the arrival of new Director-General of the BBC Greg Dyke in 2000, BBC One had suffered from under-investment, and for three successive years of Salmon's time in charge the channel was criticised in the annual report of the Board of Governors of the BBC for its performance and output. Dyke himself criticised the channel directly during the 2000 Edinburgh International Television Festival, firstly claiming it "had to do better" while delivering the annual MacTaggart Lecture, and then later criticising the policy of building lightweight drama series such as Harbour Lights (1999–2000) and Sunburn (1999–2000) around former soap opera stars. Salmon also found himself criticised in the media for rescheduling and cutting back on the annual number of editions of BBC One's flagship current affairs series Panorama, as well as the decision not to broadcast a public pageant held to celebrate the Queen Mother's 100th birthday. BBC One also saw its audience fall to record lows on several occasions during Salmon's period in charge.
Finally, on 13 September 2000, the BBC officially announced that Salmon was to leave BBC One to become the new Director of BBC Sport. His successor was eventually confirmed as being Lorraine Heggessey, who had been widely speculated as replacing Salmon even before his departure had been confirmed.
Read more about this topic: Peter Salmon (producer)
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