BBC AMERICA Appoints Ricky Kelehar as VP, Unscripted Programming

BBC America has appointed Ricky Kelehar as VP, Unscripted Programming, overseeing the channel's original shows such as Wild Things With Dominic Monaghan and the development of new unscripted formats. Based in New York, he will report to Perry Simon, General Manager, Channels, BBC Worldwide North America, and will work closely with Richard De Croce, SVP Programming, to develop new original content for BBC AMERICA. Kelehar is expected to take up his new post next month.

Kelehar joins from IWC Media where he was Head of Factual Entertainment and US Formats. He recently created the Channel Four series Gadget Man for North One Television and previously worked for the BBC in New York as Executive Editor of Factual Entertainment, where he oversaw production on TLC's Honey We're Killing the Kids.

Perry Simon said: "I'm very pleased to welcome Ricky to the BBC America team. His experience developing and producing quality non-scripted programming will be a vital contribution to the network as we expand the channel's unscripted slate."

Kelehar added: "I am thrilled to be joining BBC America at this very exciting time in its development - and look forward to working closely with the best production brains in the UK and North America to re-shape and re-energize its unscripted output."

In his 20 years in television, Kelehar has worked with major talent at a range of production companies including Tiger Aspect, Optomen, Diverse, Twenty Twenty, and ITV Factual and Documentaries.