Government blocks reappointment of Channel 4 board members including The King’s Speech director Tom Hooper
Academy Award-winning director Tom Hooper, and the board’s only person from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background, Althea Efunshile, have been blocked by the UK government from re-appointment to the Channel 4 board this evening.
Culture secretary Nadine Dorries refused to sign off the re-appointments after outgoing Channel 4 Chair Charles Gurassa recommended they both serve another term, according to reports from the Financial Times.
This comes after the government controversially vetoed the reappointment of two other female directors – Uzma Hasan and Fru Hazlitt – to the board this summer.
Ofcom told the FT that it would start to look for replacements for the pair in the New Year.
The King’s Speech director Hooper has served on the board since 2017, whilst Efunshile, a former Deputy Chief Executive of Arts Council England, has served one term.
It comes just a week after Ofcom announced the appointment of four new non-executive directors to the Board of Channel 4, including Sarah Sands OBE, the former editor of Radio 4’s Today programme.