BBC children's chief aims to revive ITV fortunes

The television executive who championed Ant and Dec and resurrected Bill and Ben and Basil Brush has been appointed to one of the toughest jobs in British television.

Nigel Pickard, controller of children's television at the BBC, has been named the surprise successor to David Liddiment as director of programmes at ITV.

ITV was immediately confronted with claims that Mr Pickard, 50, had neither the drama nor entertainment expertise regarded as vital for the successful rejuvenation of a channel that has been suffering one of its worst slumps in ratings and advertising revenue.

But sources pointed out that Mr Pickard was responsible at children's BBC for an empire embracing commissioning, scheduling and production with a programming budget of £100m.

He is also well acquainted with the workings of ITV, where he spent most of his career apart from his time at the BBC and a short sojourn in multichannel television with Flextech.

His ITV successes included the Saturday morning programmes SMTV and CD:UK, which promoted Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, now two of Britain's most popular entertainers.

The shows wrested back the ratings lead from the BBC, which had long held sway, and prompted the corporation's decision to poach him. Mick Desmond, joint managing director of ITV, said it was a great appointment.

"He has a wealth of experience in commercial broadcasting plus a successful track record in both children's and multichannel television, two of the most competitive areas of the business," he said.

Sources at ITV say executives soon realised that talks to recruit Sky's new manager Dawn Airey had diverted them from the task of finding someone to sort out programmes – a job that many regarded as a poisoned chalice given the turbulence likely to be caused by the long-awaited Carlton-Granada merger.

"They went back to basics and Nigel was very much their first choice. They approached him about three weeks ago," one insider said.

Nick Elliott, ITV's head of drama, said he was genuinely delighted that Mr Pickard was returning and dismissed suggestions that Mr Pickard did not have the necessary experience. "Children's is a little network of its own. They do entertainment, they do drama, they do daytime. He's ideal. I'm amazed that his name didn't come up before," he said.

"He is very much his own man. He might give the impression of being shambling but he's got his own opinions, which is terribly important."

ITV hopes Mr Pickard will start work early in the new year, with daytime television likely to be one of the first areas to be addressed.He will be swiftly thrust into the limelight, tackling the demanding task of reassuring advertisers and producers that ITV is on the way back up.

His appointment was being billed as a welcome addition to the partnership of David Bergg, ITV's well-respected scheduler, and Jim Hytner, its marketing guru who is about to unveil a new image for the network.

Yesterday's announcement ends a saga that began three months ago with Mr Liddiment's decision to quit.

ITV identified Ms Airey, then chief executive of Channel 5, as the person they wanted to succeed him. But she made clear that the job was not big enough and immediately began talks about the vacant chief executive's chair at ITV instead. ITV was then forced to start the search all over again after she unexpectedly accepted an offer from Sky.