Hamish Mykura

Hamish Mykura is "Head of the History, Science and Religion programmes at Channel 4 Television. His department commissions a wide range of programmes which include dramatised feature-length films, specially-staged events, presenter-led series, practical archaeology, contemporary biography and documentaries." Before joining Channel 4 in 2001, Hamish was the Head of Programmes at Blakeway Productions, an independent production company that specialises in history and politics programmes. Mykura was an executive producer of Blakeway, and he also directed films of his own. Mykura has also been a series producer at the London independent production company Mentorn, and prior to that he worked for 10 years at the BBC where, among other things, he spent three years as a producer in New York, directed an acclaimed TV biography of Liberace, and supplied the voice of Gerry Adams for TV reports during the Sinn Fein broadcasting ban. On 25 February 2008, Mykura was appointed "Head of Documentaries" at Channel 4.

In 2007, Mykura commissioned Martin Durkin's The Great Climate Change Swindle, a deeply controversial portrayal of the climate change trends, causes, and science. Although facing a barrage of criticism for commissioning, showing and then failing to retract the central claims of that film, Mykura was unapologetic. In fact, in August 2007, Mykura appeared together with Martin Durkin at the Edinburgh TV festival to reiterate the climate-sceptic position and chastising the BBC for showing Planet Relief, a programme highlighting the dangers to the planet of climate change.

Controversy for controversy's sake

Mykura has a penchant for selecting programmes that are "controversial". In 2006, C4 showed a programme commissioned by Mykura: an autopsy. Other programmes with morbid subjects were also commissioned by him.

Affiliations

• Martin Durkin
• Blakeway Productions
• Mentorn

References, Resources, Contact

Resources

• George Monbiot, Correspondence with Hamish Mykura, Monbiot.com, 1 April, 2007.