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George Entwistle, Controller of Knowledge Commissioning, today announced two further appointments to the new factual commissioning structure.

Martin Davidson has been appointed the Commissioning Editor for History and Business and Jo Ball has been appointed commissioning editor for Features ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two.

They join Emma Swain, Head of Knowledge Commissioning, who was the first appointment to the new system last month.

Martin Davidson is currently the Commissioning Editor for Specialist Factual (In-house) and has commissioned programmes including: The Human Planet; Darwin's Dangerous Idea; Monarchy: The Royal Family At Work; Atom; The Genius Of Photography and the forthcoming Incredible Human Journey with Alice Roberts.

He first joined the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ in 1988 and has worked across series as diverse as The Late Show, A History Of British Art, Reputations and Decisive Weapons, before becoming Executive Producer of A History Of Britain.

He also worked for RDF Media as Head of History (2001-2005), returning to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ as Commissioning Executive Producer for Independents and then becoming Acting Genre Commissioner for Specialist Factual.

Jo Ball is currently the Commissioning Editor for Features and Formats (Independents), joining the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ three months ago from Channel 4, where she was the Commissioning Editor for Features.

While at Channel 4, Jo oversaw The F-word, Gok's Fashion Fix, Embarrassing Bodies and Grand Designs, among others.

Prior to this Jo was Creative Director at Ricochet where she was responsible for developing and executive producing It's Me Or The Dog, Born To Be Different and Wanted: New Mum And Dad for Channel 4 and How Not To Decorate for Five.

She also developed Blood, Sweat And T-Shirts for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three.

George Entwistle said: "I'm very pleased to announce Martin and Jo's roles as we build the Factual Commissioning Structure.

"Martin is an expert in his field and will help to define a new generation of History and Business programming.

"Jo Ball has an instinctive flair for popular factual programming and some strong ideas about the future development of features within the Knowledge strategy."

The new commissioning structure was outlined in February and the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is moving quickly to appoint the new roles. It has been changed to better deliver the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's Knowledge Strategy on all platforms and reflects the importance of specialist areas to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's public purposes.

In the new structure the commissioning editors will have increased strategic responsibility for their specialisms and a greater leadership role in their area.

The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ plans to make further appointments in the near future.

LD