Fremantle hires Babita Bahal as Group Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Fremantle announced the appointment of Babita Bahal as Group Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, a newly created role which is part of the company’s ongoing commitment to this topic. Bahal will report to Group Human Resources Director, Nicky Gray.

“Babita brings a wealth of experience that will help accelerate our efforts in continuously shaping a more diverse and inclusive culture. We have a responsibility as an organization to ensure our workforce is inclusive and reflects the communities in which we live and the audiences we serve. Our ongoing commitment to reflecting the diversity of the world in which we operate, on and off-screen, is essential to the success of our business and our creativity. By bringing Babita on board we are further committed to ensuring accountability for our progress,”   Gray said.

Meanwhile, Babita Bahal commented: “Moving to Fremantle is an exciting opportunity to build an inclusive, creative culture within a large, successful, global content creator. I’m delighted to be working with Nicky Gray and the Fremantle leadership team to attract and progress the best people from the widest range of backgrounds, and who reflect a global audience. I’m sad to leave Channel 4 and the exceptionally talented creative diversity team but leave safe in the knowledge that together we made significant steps towards greater representation for the channel”.

As Head of Creative Diversity at Channel 4, Bahal lead a team tasked with ensuring the broadcaster continues to improve on and off-screen representation across its content, providing guidance and expertise on all aspects of inclusion, diversity and authentic portrayals for Channel 4’s commissioning team as well as its independent production partners. Bahal was instrumental to key projects including the channel’s recent Black to Front Project, Paralympics and the Indie Accelerator, helping increase representation and inclusion in the UK television industry.

Prior to joining Channel 4, Bahal was the Diversity and Inclusion Lead for BBC Content. Working with channel controllers, commissioning teams and production companies, her work included discovering and developing talent from underrepresented backgrounds.