Biographies

Director, BBC North

After working as a volunteer teacher, press officer and newspaper reporter Peter Salmon joined the BBC as a General Trainee in 1981 and worked on Blue Peter, Newsnight and BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat.

He produced Crimewatch UK, was responsible for more than 40 environmental programmes for Bristol's Natural History Unit; was co-creator of Sport Relief, which has so far raised £100m for good causes, and exec-produced Oscar-winning animation The Wrong Trousers.

He left the BBC in the early Nineties, firstly to become Controller of Factual Programmes for Channel 4, winning a record number of Baftas, RTS Awards, International Emmies and two consecutive Prix Italias.

Three years later he moved to Manchester to become Director of Programmes at Granada, overseeing World In Action, Hillsborough and Coronation Street, among others.

In 1997, he returned to the corporation as Controller of BBC One, commissioning projects as diverse as Clocking Off, Warriors, Dinner Ladies, Castaway 2000 and Waking The Dead, before becoming Director of Sport in 2000, where he pioneered interactive television and the development of BBC Sport Online as well as resigning Match Of The Day and overseeing The Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002.

Peter left the BBC to run major independent production company The Television Corporation.

In October 2006, he rejoined as Chief Creative Officer of BBC Vision Productions, overseeing the largest content creator in the world with 3,000 in-house staff responsible for the likes of Strictly Come Dancing, Top Gear, The Thick Of It, Dragons' Den, EastEnders and The One Show.

Peter was appointed Director, BBC North, at the end of 2008.

He leads key departments including Children's, Sport and BBC Radio 5 Live which are currently in the process of moving into their new base at MediaCityUK in Salford Quays. Staff started to relocate to the site – one of the world's most advanced broadcasting centres – in May. All departments will be fully settled in by spring next year.

The BBC's second largest production centre, BBC North aims to build stronger relationships with audiences across the UK.