Richard Sharp: Last News

The UK’s Film & TV Production Restart Scheme (PRS) will end up costing the government just £20M ($25M) while generating more than £2.25B ($2.8B) for the nation’s economy, according to an independent report analyzing its success.

“I wasn’t happy at the way my activities were characterized and think they were misrepresented wilfully by other forms of the media.”

British TV vet Samir Shah has been unveiled as the new BBC Chair, coming with a major decision on the licence fee imminent.

Naman Ramachandran Elan Closs Stephens, who has assumed charge as acting BBC chair following the resignation of Richard Sharp, has spoken out about her predecessor and the process of appointing her successor. Sharp resigned in April over his role in a 2020 loan to then U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson. On Wednesday, Closs Stephens’ first day as acting BBC chair, a Q&A with BBC presenter Tina Daheley was shared with the corporation’s staff. When asked what she would say to people who feel the BBC’s reputation has been damaged by what happened with Richard Sharp, Closs Stephens said: “There’s no doubt that we’ve gone through a difficult period of time and I’m sure that staff and the board and Richard himself were unnerved by what happened over the past few months. All of us feel a debt of gratitude to Richard for the way in which he committed himself to the organization during his two years. But the organization as a whole is about the creativity and the news values and the production values of all the people who work in it.”

The BBC’s Acting Chair Elan Closs Stephens has said staff and the board at the UK network were “unnerved” by events of the past few months.

Naman Ramachandran BBC director general Tim Davie has called for a “transparent” hiring process for the next chair of the corporation. The previous BBC chair Richard Sharp resigned over his role in a 2020 loan to then U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Elan Closs Stephens has been appointed temporary acting chair. Davie appeared before a U.K. Culture Media and Sport Committee parliamentary inquiry on the workings of the BBC on Tuesday and was asked what qualities and skills BBC needs for the new chair. “This is an incredibly precious institution, globally admired complex, right in the heart of the public eye. It needs a world class chair and we need an outstanding candidate to do that,” Davie told the committee.

BBC journalists have overwhelmingly expressed no confidence in their senior leadership team.

K.J. Yossman The BBC has appointed an acting chair following the ousting of Richard Sharp in April. Elan Closs Stephens has been appointed in the role by the U.K.’s culture secretary Lucy Frazer She will take over from Sharp once he steps down on June 27. Closs Stephens has been a non-executive director of the board since 2017. Before that she was the BBC Trust’s trustee for Wales and has also been chair of the commercial holdings board for BBC Studios, chair of Welsh broadcaster SC4 and is currently Aberystwyth University’s Pro-Chancellor and Professor Emerita in Communications and Creative Industries.

The BBC has appointed an acting replacement for departing Chairman Richard Sharp, with Dame Elan Cross Stephens set to take over for up to 12 months.

“I am not in this job to simply defend an institution,” BBC Director General Tim Davie declared this afternoon, as he attempted to get the corporation back on the front foot following a tricky few months.

K.J. Yossman The BBC has unveiled its findings following a review into the conduct of recently-ousted chair Richard Sharp. The corporation said Sharp’s conduct did not give rise to any conflicts of interest. Sharp resigned two weeks ago after it was revealed he had helped former Prime Minister Boris Johnson secure a loan in 2020 just weeks before Johnson recommended him for the role of BBC chair. Sharp was then formally appointed in Jan. 2021. Sharp, a banker and former chair of the Royal Academy of Arts, did not disclose the episode during his application for the role, an omission that constituted a “significant error of judgement” a parliamentary inquiry said. An official report by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport concluded that Sharp had breached the rules for public appointments, prompting him to step down.

Representatives for a leading Jewish group in the UK have requested an urgent meeting with the editor of The Guardian newspaper over its cartoon they believe contained “antisemitic tropes.”

The Guardian has deleted and apologized for a Martin Rowson cartoon of outgoing BBC Chairman Richard Sharp after the image was accused of evoking anti-Semitic tropes.

The government has been urged by today’s report to “review current conflict of interest guidance for candidates to ensure it is fit for purpose” in the wake of BBC Chair Richard Sharp’s resignation.

BBC Chair Richard Sharp has resigned after a report found he breached appointment rules by failing to declare his role in the Boris Johnson loan scandal.

Richard Sharp has resigned as BBC chairman after a report found he breached the governance code for public appointments.

Richard Sharp has resigned as BBC chairman after conceding an official report finds he breached the rules for public appointments.

Naman Ramachandran BBC chairman Richard Sharp has resigned his position over his role in a 2020 loan to then U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Sharp had been under pressure ever since a parliamentary inquiry into the matter by the same Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee that had interviewed him for the job found that he had made “significant errors of judgement” when he did not declare his role in the facilitation of the loan to Johnson. Sharp, a banker and former chair of the Royal Academy of Arts, was appointed in January 2021 on the recommendation of Oliver Dowden, then DCMS secretary and Johnson. A report in U.K.’s The Sunday Times in January alleged that Johnson put forward the recommendation just weeks after Sharp “helped to arrange a guarantee on a loan of up to £800,000 [$990,000 ]” for Johnson.

BBC TV boss Charlotte Moore has said she will not “censor” respected writers who want to make shows about controversial subjects such as Jimmy Savile and the Grenfell disaster. In a wide-ranging briefing with the media press, Moore also addressed the Gary Lineker and Richard Sharp controversies, future of Top Gear, the streamers and the closure of CBBC and BBC Four on linear.

The BBC’s appointment of Chair Richard Sharp “should not stand” and the process was “fatally flawed,” according to former Director General John Birt, who threw his weight behind the corporation over the Gary Lineker scandal.

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC raised concerns about the way the government was going about appointing its new Chairman before the controversial hire of Richard Sharp.