Kevin Lygo

Kevin Lygo was promoted to become Director of Television and Content in March 2007, having previously been Director of Television since returning to Channel 4 in November 2003.

As Director of Television and Content Kevin sits on the Channel 4 board and has strategic management responsibility for the Group’s portfolio of TV channels – Channel 4, E4, More4 and Film4 – and for cross-platform commissioning areas such as Acquisitions, Arts, Education and Film. He has also been given a more active role in overseeing the development and commissioning of content for Channel 4’s services on new digital platforms. 

Under Lygo’s creative leadership, Channel 4 has been the only terrestrial broadcast group to increase viewing in the last five years, with its share of the total TV audience increasing by 14%. E4 relaunched on Freeview in May 2005 and has subsequently more than doubled its share of the total TV audience, becoming Britain’s most watched digital TV channel amongst younger audiences and winning multi-channel service of the year at this year’s Edinburgh TV Festival. More4’s launch in October 2005 led to it being named best new channel at the Broadcast awards in 2006 and the channel is established amongst the ten most popular digital TV channels, comfortably out rating BBC4. Film4 went free-to-air in July 2006 year and has been the UK’s most popular TV film channel ever since. In 2007, Channel 4 also become the first terrestrial broadcaster to launch a time-shifted version and an HD channel. 

Since Kevin rejoined Channel 4 in 2003, the Group has enjoyed unprecedented critical success, picking up more BAFTA TV awards than any other channel in 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009, and a record eight Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards for Slumdog Millionaire, developed and co-financed by Film4. Channel 4 was named Channel of the Year at Edinburgh in 2006 and at the Broadcast Awards in 2006 and 2009. 

Award-winning programmes broadcast under Kevin’s stewardship include Anatomy for Beginners, A Boy Called Alex, Boy A, The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off, Brat Camp, Britz, Come Dine With Me, Deal or No Deal, The Devil’s Whore, The Friday Night Project, The Government Inspector, Green Wing, Hamburg Cell, Hunger, How to Look Good Naked, The Mark of Cain, The Inbetweeners, The IT Crowd, Jamie’s School Dinners, Longford, Omagh, Peep Show, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, Red Riding, Secret Millionaire, Saving Africa’s Witch Children, Sex Traffic, Shameless, Skins, Supernanny and Touching the Void. 

Kevin first joined Channel 4 as Head of Entertainment and Music in August 1997 and presided over an acclaimed expansion of the channel’s entertainment portfolio. Commissions during his first employment at Channel 4 include So Graham Norton, Trigger Happy TV, Top 10s, Smack the Pony, Spaced, Black Books, Da Ali G Show, The 11 O'clock Show and the Brass Eye special on paedophilia. Kevin also acted as Controller for the launch of E4 in January 2001.

He left later in 2001 to spend two years as Director of Programmes at Five, where he is credited with broadening the channel’s programme offering from a reliance on films, sport and acquisitions to embrace original UK production including arts, popular factual and history programming.  

Prior to joining Channel 4 in 1997 Kevin worked at the BBC, most recently as Head of Independent Commissioning for Entertainment. His credits include The Two Ronnies, Not the Nine O'clock News, They Think It's All Over and Men Behaving Badly.