Eight people who could replace Tim Davie as BBC director-general

After Tim Davie’s resignation announcement only a day ago, talk is turning to who could replace him and take on the highest-profile role in British broadcasting.

The BBC‘s director-general position is a crucial role, serving effectively as both the corporation’s chief executive and its editor-in-chief across television, radio and online.

Davie, who has worked for the BBC for 20 years and been in charge for the past five, is not stepping down immediately.

He said in his departure note to staff that he is “working through exact timings with the board to allow for an orderly transition to a successor over the coming months”.

It is still early days, but here are some of the names being discussed as contenders for the role.

Charlotte Moore

Chief executive of Left Bank Pictures, a British independent TV and film production company owned by Sony, Charlotte Moore was chief content officer at the BBC for five years before leaving in the summer.

She was among those shortlisted when Davie got the job in 2020 and is known as the mastermind behind the commissioning of The Great British Bake Off.

In March 2023, she was awarded the Royal Television Society Judges Award in recognition of her leadership “through one of the most momentous years in [the BBC’s] history and having done so with an exceptional combination of steadfast level-headedness, confidence and creative flair”.

“The BBC is an extraordinary place to work,” she said in a statement when her move to Left Bank was announced.

“There’s nowhere quite like it that backs risk-taking, innovation and homegrown creativity with such commitment.”

James Harding

A former editor of the Times and director of BBC News, James Harding is the co-founder and editor of slow news venture Tortoise Media, which bought The Observer newspaper in December 2024.

Harding called for the BBC to be “put beyond the reach of politicians” in an interview with Sky News before giving the James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival in the summer.

Establishing the independence of the BBC is critical “if we want to build confidence in shared facts and respect for the truth”, he said.

Jay Hunt

Jay Hunt is Apple TV+’s creative director for Europe and was appointed chair of the British Film Institute in 2024.

She has previously worked as chief creative officer for Channel 4, director of programmes at Channel 5 and controller of BBC One.

Channel 4 was named Channel of the Year at the Edinburgh International Television Festival in 2014 and 2016 under her leadership, and she was known for buying the rights to The Great British Bake Off from the BBC.

At Apple, she has overseen commissioning for award-winning shows such as Bad Sisters and Slow Horses.

Alex Mahon

After almost eight years as chief executive of Channel 4 – the first woman in the broadcaster’s history to take the helm – Alex Mahon left the role earlier this year to lead live entertainment group Superstruct Entertainment.

Superstruct owns and operates more than 80 music festivals across 10 countries in Europe and Australia, including Boardmasters in Cornwall and Mighty Hoopla.

Mahon’s move allowed her to earn a more lucrative remuneration package than the one on offer to her at Channel 4, Sky News City editor Mark Kleinman reported at the time.

Dawn Airey, Channel 4 interim chair, described her as a “great figure in British television” and said she had been “one of the most impactful CEOs” since the founding of Channel 4 in 1982.

She was the recipient of Variety’s 2020 International Achievement in Television Award and has been honoured with an International Royal Industrial Fellowship.

Dame Carolyn McCall

Dame Carolyn McCall has led ITV since she joined the channel in 2018, having served as chief executive of easyJet for seven years and chief executive of the Guardian Media Group for four years.

She was made a dame in 2016 for services to the aviation industry and an OBE before that in 2008 for services to women in business.

She has led ITV plc’s “significant transformation in the competitive digital media landscape since joining in 2018, successfully evolving it from a linear organisation to a strong linear and digital media, entertainment, and global production business”, her biography for the broadcaster states.

McCall is in the preliminary stages of talks with Sky, the owner of Sky News, over the possible sale of ITV’s media and entertainment division.

Sir Trevor Phillips

Another name that has been suggested by a few commentators is Sky News’s Sir Trevor Phillips, who presents Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips each weekend.

A businessman and journalist, Phillips has won Royal Television Society journalism awards three times. He is also a Times columnist and was shortlisted for Comment Writer of the Year in 2020.

Phillips, who was knighted in 2022 for services to equality and human rights, was previously head of current affairs for London Weekend TV (where he worked alongside BBC chair Samir Shah), chair of the London Assembly, chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and president of the John Lewis Partnership Council.

His name has been mentioned as a possible contender on political website Guido Fawkes, as well as by Rod Liddle on Times Radio and journalist Stephen Pollard in a column for The Spectator, headlined: “Is this the man who can save the BBC?”

Senior BBC staff

Could the BBC look internally?

One name that has been mentioned is Jonathan Munro, who, since joining the BBC in 2014, has led news coverage “through every major story over the last decade”, his biography for the broadcaster states, from Brexit to UK general elections, and the death of the Queen to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

He became global director of BBC News in September 2024, and is also director of the BBC World Service and deputy chief executive of BBC News and Current Affairs.

There is also Kate Phillips, who replaced Moore as chief content officer, the senior executive responsible for all the BBC’s network TV and radio output, in the summer.

She has only been in the role for a few months, having previously held the position of director of unscripted content. During the pandemic, she was acting controller of BBC One.

In other circumstances, BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness perhaps could have been a possible candidate to replace Davie, but she announced her resignation alongside his on Sunday night.