Channel 4’s Jay Hunt who poached Bake Off from BBC and commissioned hit shows like Sherlock appointed creative chief of European video operations

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Apple has hired the television executive who masterminded Channel 4’s £75m poaching of The Great British Bake Off from the BBC, in an ambitious move to take on traditional broadcasters and digital rivals Netflix and Amazon.

The US tech firm has hired Jay Hunt, who has held top roles at Channel 4, the BBC and Channel 5, and whose credits include British hits such as Sherlock, Luther, Humans and Gogglebox. She was also behind deals to bring US series such as Homeland and The Handmaid’s Tale to the UK.

Hunt, who abruptly resigned in June as Channel 4’s chief creative officer after missing out on the top job, takes the new role of creative chief at Apple’s European video operations.

Her appointment signals Apple’s serious TV and film intentions. It is the the third major Silicon Valley firm to take up television and film production, once a forte of Hollywood studios.

Hunt, 50, will report to Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, Apple’s worldwide video heads, who were poached from Sony Pictures Television in June.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tremaine, Twaine and Tristan in Gogglebox. Photograph: Jude Edginton/Channel 4

Hollywood was stunned by the signing of the duo. At Sony the two were responsible for striking the £100m co-production deal with Netflix to make The Crown, and had overseen production of hit shows including Breaking Bad and The Blacklist.

Hunt, who left Channel 4 in September after the successful launch of the new-look Bake Off, will start work at Apple in January.

One of the UK’s most senior TV executives, Hunt has been responsible for running Channel 4’s £630m annual budget for the past six years, with credits spanning the London 2012 Paralympics and celebrity winter sports show The Jump, to Isis drama The State and dystopian drama Black Mirror.

Apple has also hired rival Amazon’s Morgan Wandell, who was involved in high-profile series including The Man in the High Castle and upcoming Tom Clancy adaptation, Jack Ryan, as its head of international creative development.

Apple has earmarked $1bn over the next year to make at least 10 TV shows. It has so far only dipped its toe into original programming, striking a deal to spin the popular Carpool Karaoke segment from James Corden’s late night US TV show into a series. There was also Planet of the Apps – a sort of Dragons’ Den featuring Gwyneth Paltrow, Will.i.am and Jessica Alba.

The company also reportedly recently struck a deal with Steven Spielberg to revive the 1980s anthology series, Amazing Stories.



Earlier this month, Apple scrapped a 10-part biopic on Elvis Presley, which was to have been produced by The Weinstein Company, following sexual assault allegations against co-founder Harvey Weinstein.



Apple’s expansion follows rival Netflix revealing that it intends to spend up to $8bn on making and buying TV programmes and films next year, a significant increase on its $6bn budget this year.



Amazon, which spends an estimated $4.5bn annually on shows including Jeremy Clarkson’s Grand Tour for its Prime Video service, was hit last week by the departure of Amazon Studios head Roy Price after allegations of sexual harassment.



The division has been further rocked by the announcement this week of the departure of Joe Lewis, Amazon’s head of scripted programming, and Conrad Riggs, head of streaming for the unscripted division. They are not thought to be connected to the harassment scandal engulfing Hollywood.

