Clements departs STV as broadcaster reviews its business

0 Alan Clements leaves STV after 10 years in charge of its production division STV has announced the boss of its production division is to leave after 10 years in charge as the broadcaster carries out a strategic review of its business.

Alan Clements, the husband of BBC presenter Kirsty Wark, will depart the Glasgow-based multimedia company next month.

He joined STV Productions in 2008 after previously managing Wark Clements & Co, the successful independent company he founded in 1990.

STV is undergoing a period of transition following the appointment of Simon Pitts as chief executive in August last year. Announcing a strategic review in March, he said the company’s performance had been resilient in what he described as a “tricky year” in the marketplace.

Pitts, who moved north from ITV, has so far not been drawn on rumours in media circles that the loss-making STV2 channel could be axed.

“As we embark on a new growth strategy for the business, the time is right for fresh creative leadership,” Mr Pitts said in a statement yesterday.

“Alan’s legacy is an STV Productions that is very well placed to meet the surge in demand for Nations and Regions programming, with a highly talented and capable team and a healthy pipeline, including two new drama commissions for BBC1.

“He leaves with all our thanks for everything he has accomplished and our very best wishes for continued success in the future. A process to appoint a successor to Alan will now commence.”

Mr Clements said: “I am sad to be leaving the great team at STV Productions but delighted I leave the company in such good shape. Entertainment, led by audience favourite Catchphrase, is booming.

“Factual continues to perform brilliantly, from the juggernaut of Antiques Road Trip to the impact of Ross Kemp in Barlinnie. And the drama is back with The Victim currently filming and Elizabeth Is Missing commissioned.

“I’m so proud of the fact that STV Productions will be the biggest indie in Scotland in 2018 and I wish all who work there all the very best for the future.”

STV has faced criticism in recent years from some viewers in Scotland over its decision to opt-out of broadcasting certain ITV productions in favour of screening more Scottish content.

Mr Clements has previously commented that STV faced a choice of taking “all the ITV schedule apart from local news”.

“I’m absolutely unrepentant that we have gone down the road of STV being the national broadcaster of Scotland,” he told the Guardian in 2009.

“The slogan is from Scotland to the world, and it is not a sense of everything has to have a kilt in it.”