Richard Deverell

Richard George Deverell became Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in September 2012. He was previously Controller of CBBC, the department within the BBC responsible for output aimed at children.

Deverell was born in 1965. He graduated in biological sciences from Cambridge University.

After graduation, Deverell worked for several years in management consultancy before joining the BBC, where he was Head of Strategy and Marketing and on the Board of BBC News, as Head of News interactive.

After taking up his post as CBBC Controller in 2006, Deverell re-aligned CBBC towards a target audience of 6–12 years. Several popular series were revised or cancelled outright; Byker Grove ended in 2006 after 18 series, the last being broadcast solely on the digital CBBC Channel. The other teenage darama series, Grange Hill, was removed from BBC One in 2007 in favour of exclusive scheduling on CBBC and ceased in 2008, with its last series concentrating on the early years of secondary school in order to fit in with CBBC's new brief.

In May 2006, Deverell promised there were no plans to alter the format of Grange Hill. He commissioned the very popular In the Night Garden.

The BBC's new programming strand for older children and teenagers launched in the autumn of 2007, but CBBC was criticised for not continuing to provide for this age range until the new service was up and running.

In March 2009 Deverell was named chief operating officer of the BBC's new broadcasting and production centre in Salford Quays.

He was appointed the Director of The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Kew Gardens) in 2012 having spent 6 years as a Trustee of RBG Kew (2003 - 2009), during which time, amongst other things, he chaired the Board Audit Committee.

In this role Deverell is responsible for the botanic gardens and collections in London and Wakehurst, Sussex as well as a large number of plant conservation and research projects internationally.

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