Steve Carson to step down as head of BBC Scotland

Steve Carson is to step down from his role as head of BBC Scotland.

Mr Carson will leave the corporation this autumn to take up a senior role in Dublin with the Irish public service broadcaster, RTÉ.

Originally from Belfast, he began his career with the BBC before setting up an independent production company in Ireland.

Mr Carson became head of BBC Scotland in 2020, taking on responsibility for leading 1,100 staff producing TV, radio and digital content across 13 centres.

Mr Carson, who will leave in September, said it had been the “honour of my life to serve as director” for the past four years.

He added: “This year, we have concluded a new partnership agreement with MG ALBA that will strengthen our key Gaelic services, established a new BBC network Audio base and continued to evolve our crucial News service across platforms.”

The outgoing director also said he was proud of how BBC colleagues across Scotland pulled together to deliver vital services during the Covid pandemic and led the coverage of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

Born and brought up in Northern Ireland, where his late father Tom was a journalist on The Belfast Telegraph, Mr Carson graduated from Manchester University before joining the BBC.

In February 2009, he was appointed as director of programmes at RTÉ Television and re-joined the BBC as head of BBC Northern Ireland Productions in 2013.

After moving to Scotland as head of multi-platform commissioning in 2017, he was responsible for launching the BBC Scotland TV channel two years later.

BBC director of nations Rhodri Talfan Davies said Mr Carson had been a “driving force in BBC Scotland’s success over recent years”.

Mr Davis added: “He is also a passionate and supportive colleague – intensely proud of the teams he leads across BBC Scotland and deeply committed to the development of the Scottish production sector.”

The search for Mr Carson’s successor will begin immediately.