UKTV appoints Tibbetts as Director of Programming for Drama
December 11, 2024

UKTV has appointed Emma Tibbetts as its new Director of Programming for Drama, as it finalises changes to the structure of its programming team in line with plans to integrate its linear and VoD divisions to deliver on its digital first and audience-led strategy.
Reporting to Chief Programming Officer Steve North, Tibbetts will be responsible for developing and delivering the drama content strategy across UKTV’s channels and free streaming service U. Working with the commissioning, acquisitions, digital curation and wider programming teams, Tibbetts will help identify content gaps and targets, with the aim of optimising the performance of UKTV’s linear channels across pay and free-to-air, and driving views to U.
Steve North commented: “Emma’s immense industry knowledge, including her background in content, audience insight and VoD, make her the ideal candidate for this role. She has an infectious enthusiasm for television coupled with an innate understanding for how viewers watch and consume content in the digital space.”
Tibbetts added: “I’m thrilled to join UKTV at such an exciting time following the rebrand and with a continuing slate of incredibly high-quality drama content in the pipeline. The recent successes the network has seen with the likes of The Marlow Murder Club and The Red King, form a strong foundation for audience appeal into the future.”
Tibbetts’ role sits alongside two further genre-based programme directors following last month’s appointments of former Gold and Yesterday Channel Director Gerald Casey as Director of Programming for Comedy and Entertainment, and former U&W Channel Director Adam Collings as Director of Programming for Factual and Factual Entertainment.
In addition to the Programme Director roles, UKTV has created three new Programming Lead roles, one for each genre. Internal candidates Vicky Walker and Peter Preston have taken on the roles of Programming Lead for Drama and Programming Lead for Comedy and Entertainment respectively, while Alex Jefferson has joined from ITV as Programming Lead for Factual and Factual Entertainment.
Tibbetts rejoins UKTV at the end of December, having previously worked for the broadcaster from 2008 to 2017.