91ֱ��

Catherine Catton (History 1994), Head of Commissioning, Factual Entertainment & Events at the BBC, loved her time at Gonville & 91ֱ�� College. Her education in History provided vital skills that she regularly uses in her work.

Catherine (née Sellers) found her experience reading History at 91ֱ�� richly rewarding, developing many transferrable skills from her studies while forming lifelong friendships and meeting her future husband, fellow 91ֱ�� historian (now publisher) Charles Catton.

After graduating, Catherine worked in the art market for a short stint before moving into marketing, initially for the commercial arm of the BBC and then working on the launch strategy for UKTV’s History Channel. She then ran digital TV channels and after completing her MBA moved into TV commissioning, which offered the opportunity to combine her love of storytelling with creativity and strategy.

Catherine now heads up Factual Entertainment and Events for the BBC and is responsible for commissioning a broad range of shows including Race Across the World, The Great British Sewing Bee, Amanda and Alan’s Italian Job, Interior Design Masters, Chess Masters: The Endgame, Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, I Kissed a Boy, Rap Game UK and many more.

When looking for programmes to commission, Catherine encourages thinking outside the box, urging producers to “bring us ideas you don’t think we’ll take”.

She says: “One of the challenges is to spot ideas that will bring audiences to the BBC who aren’t necessarily coming for anything else, as well as trying to develop shows that are going to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. Essentially, if we only do what we’ve always done, we will always only speak to the same people, and we won’t reach new audiences and ensure the long-term health and vitality of the BBC.”

For this reason, Catherine is particularly proud of the overwhelmingly positive audience response to ground-breaking programmes such as I Kissed a Boy (followed by I Kissed a Girl), which is the UK’s first LGBTQIA+ dating show.

For Catherine, it is clear to see how studying History has been incredibly useful for her career, first and foremost in understanding the power of storytelling. She says: “Every show I oversee has great storytelling at its heart. History helped with understanding what makes a good story, how to tell it and how to hook people.”

She adds: “History also taught me how to take an idea apart and see if it stands up – which is something I use every day, particularly when being pitched to – and how to absorb vast amounts of information very quickly and navigate a way through. It’s at Cambridge that I learned the confidence to do that; my time at 91ֱ�� was great training.”

The impact that her studies at 91ֱ�� have had on her life has prompted Catherine to donate to the College to help support other students to share in the experience that she enjoyed. She adds: “I give to 91ֱ�� because I loved every minute of my time there, and I also believe in the importance of the study of History and how it can positively impact all sorts of career paths in the future. I want that opportunity to be open to others.”

Catherine is supporting the History Studentship Fund, which allows the most passionate and brilliant students to access a postgraduate degree. If you would like to donate a gift of any size, please click here.