Clare Sillery, the commissioning editor behind regional favourites such as Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams and Taken: Britain’s Forced Adoption Scandal, which followed a team of distinguished Scottish lawyers pursuing for government redress over forced adoption from the 1940s-1980s, is stepping down as the BBC’s head of commissioning, documentaries, with immediate effect, Broadcast reports, although she will still complete a pair of Once Upon a Time docs for the broadcaster.
As head of docs commissioning, Sillery was responsible for commissioning documentaries for BBC television channels and iPlayer. She spent over 20 years at the BBC.
Highlights across BBC One and Two have included the acclaimed limited series Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland, Uprising and House of Maxwell, returning brands like Ambulance, Murder 24/7 and Parole and single films such as The Real Mo Farah.
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Series on BBC Three include Glow Up, and High: Confession of a Drug Mule, as well as films made by new directors on the New Documentary Directors’ Initiative.
She oversaw a huge range of output from high impact one-offs such as 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room and Our Falklands War to acclaimed series such as Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland, Uprising, House of Maxwell and Field of Dreams.
Other highlights include returning series like Forensics: The Real CSI and numerous BBC Three hits and films from new and emerging directors.
Sillery was previously a commissioning editor in documentaries responsible for returning series such as Real Marigold Hotel and Real Marigold on Tour and award-winning single films like Simon’s Choice; How to Die on BBC Two and the BAFTA winning factual drama Damilola, our Loved Boy for BBC One.
Before joining BBC commissioning, she was an executive producer on a diverse range of output from Bafta-winning Life And Death Row to RTS-winning Secret Life Of The National Grid. She was also a regular fixture at the likes of Sheffield Docfest, a frequent hunting ground for future commissions, and served as a judge for the Rory Peck Trust’s journalism awards.
Sillery is the BBC’s second senior factual commissioning loss in as many days after Channel 4 News unveiled BBC World editor of investigations Marc Perkins as its new senior commissioning editor yesterday.
Image courtesy The Rory Peck Trust
