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Commissioning Editor, Arts

Mark Bell is Commissioning Editor, Arts for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Vision and is also Arts Co-ordinator of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ.

A member of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Knowledge Commissioning team, Mark commissions Arts programmes for TV and multiplatform content.

Mark began his career in publishing, working as an editor on books including The Collected Writings Of Angela Carter, a biography of Ford Madox Brown and The Chatto Book Of Dissent.

His first break in TV was as a researcher on The Bookworm and then as the producer of Late Review for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Music & Arts.

In 2001 he moved to Newsnight. Here he transferred ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two's long-running live arts review show into its weekly late-night Friday slot, doubling the annual output to 50 weeks per year, and introducing Kirsty Wark as presenter of the show.

Mark joined the Specialist Factual department in 2002 as a Series Producer where he oversaw regular topical arts strands across ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Four.

This included a range of topical arts documentaries on a diverse range of subjects from modern artists including Guston, Lichtenstein and Brancusi, through to programmes about George Orwell, Giorgio Armani and video games.

He also oversaw a long-running series of interviews with cultural figures including Toni Morrison, John Updike, Quentin Tarantino and Tom Stoppard, and was also responsible for events programming covering the Grierson Awards, the Man Booker Prize, ICA Becks Futures and the Designer Of the Year Award.

From 2004 Mark worked as Channel Executive on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Four and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two, where he worked directly to the channel controllers, overseeing elements of editorial management of the channels and partnership opportunities.

During this time he played a leading role in a number of high-profile projects including ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two's Summer Of British Film season, Edwardian Supersize Me and numerous nights and seasons on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Four including The Edwardians, The Lost Decade, Pop On Trial and Science Fiction Britannia.

In 2007 Mark became Commissioning Editor of Independent Specialist Factual in Knowledge Commissioning.

During his time he commissioned a huge breadth of programming from Ian Hislop Goes Off The Rails and a programme on the Poet Laureate, to factual dramas Casualty 1909 and Garrow's Law; and event programming including The Link – Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One; the popular Kill It Cook It Eat It – The Hunt on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Four's forthcoming Electric Dreams.

In 2009 Mark was appointed Commissioning Editor, Arts.

In June 2009 Mark was confirmed as the Arts Co-ordinator of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ with a role to co-ordinate and maximise the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's arts output across TV, radio and online.