Channel 4 Names Heads for Documentaries & Specialist Factual

Channel 4 has appointed Alisa Pomeroy as head of documentaries and Shaminder Nahal as head of specialist factual.

“Documentaries and specialist-factual programming have always been at the heart of the channel, and these two appointments will ensure that Channel 4 remains the home of the most innovative, challenging and popular factual shows around,” commented Ian Katz, Channel 4’s chief content officer.

“Alisa is an inspirational and mischievous commissioner with a long track record of delivering some of the channel’s most creatively ambitious and successful shows,” added Katz. “Shaminder is a brilliantly original and iconoclastic thinker who has been behind some of the channel’s most distinctive and provocative commissions. I have no doubt that both of them will make waves.”

In their new roles, Pomeroy and Nahal will ensure that Channel 4 maintains strong and creative relationships with independent production companies across the U.K. in order to help the company continue to identify, develop and produce the next generation of documentary and specialist-factual programs. They will start in their new positions with immediate effect.

As head of documentaries, Pomeroy will report to Katz. She joined Channel 4 in 2015 and has been responsible for a number of programs, including Jade: The Reality Star who Changed Britain, Baby Surgeons: Delivering Miracles, Crime and Punishment, Snackmasters, Barrymore: The Body in the Pool, The Family Secret and Undercover Police: Hunting Paedophiles.

Nahal will report to Louisa Compton, head of news and current affairs, sport and specialist factual. She joined Channel 4 in 2017 and was recently at the forefront of Channel 4’s The Black to Front Project with Vivienne Molokwu. She has also been responsible for such programs as Grayson’s Art Club, Grenfell: The Untold Story, Empire State of Mind, Diana: The Truth Behind the Interview, 100 Vaginas and Superkids: Breaking Away from Care. She also delivered Murder in the Car Park, The Unremembered: Britain’s Forgotten War Heroes and co-commissioned The Big Narstie Show.

Pomeroy said: “I’m excited about the future of documentaries at Channel 4. The media landscape has changed unrecognizably since I came to Channel 4, but there’s everything to play for, and I’m lucky enough to be inheriting an extraordinarily talented team of commissioning editors. Together, we plan to discover the next generation of impactful, unmissable programs and nurture the best in British filmmaking talent.”

Nahal said: “It’s a huge privilege to be leading our specialist factual output—it’s a department which has delivered some of Channel 4’s most original, controversial and innovative programs. There isn’t a better time to be taking on the most challenging and fascinating stories and questions in history, culture and science in the boldest possible way—and I can’t wait to get going alongside our brilliant production and filmmaking partners across the U.K.”

Compton added: “Shaminder Nahal has proved herself to be a first-class commissioner of specialist-factual programs, and I’m delighted to be working with her toward a new strategy putting specialist factual back at the heart of the channel with noisy, ambitious and populist commissions.”