Richard Henry Klein (born 12 October 1958) is a British television executive who is the former controller of
BBC Four. He became controller in 2008, taking over from
Janice Hadlow
Janice Vivienne Hadlow (born November 1957) in Lewisham is a former BBC television executive. She was the controller of the BBC television channel BBC Two, taking over this position in November 2008 having previously been controller of BBC Four. A ...
, who became Controller of
BBC Two.
Early life
He was born in
Burwash Common in Sussex (now in
East Sussex) to Hans Klein and Bernadine Thorne. He attended
Prior Park College
Prior Park College is a mixed Roman Catholic public school for both day and boarding students. Situated on a hill overlooking the city of Bath, Somerset, in southwest England, Prior Park has been designated by Historic England as a Grade I li ...
, a Roman Catholic independent school near
Bath in Somerset.
From the
University of Aberdeen
, mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
, established =
, type = Public research universityAncient university
, endowment = £58.4 million (2021)
, budget ...
he gained an MA i
Englishin 1983, and from
City University London
City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...
, he gained a
Diploma of Journalism in 1985.
Career
He was a director on ''
Weekend World
''Weekend World'' is a British television political series, made by London Weekend Television (LWT) and broadcast from 1972 to 1988.
Created by John Birt, not long after he had joined LWT, the series was broadcast on the ITV network at midday ...
'' on
LWT
London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...
from 1987 to 1990.
BBC
He joined the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in 1996 as a current affairs producer director, having worked as a freelancer for some years before. From 2005 to 2007 he was a
for documentaries; most output of BBC Four comprises documentaries. He was succeeded by
. From 2007 to 2008, he was Head of Independent Commissioning for Factual TV, of the BBC.
He became Controller of BBC Four in December 2008. In November 2009, his salary was revealed by the BBC to be £195,000.
Following his departure from BBC Four, he was Head of Factual commissioning for
and is now on the executive board of the independent production company Plimsoll Productions.