The BBC Scotland heavyweight quitting his role after seven years in charge

BBC Scotland director Steve Carson has announced he will step down in the autumn after seven years in Scotland and 11 years with the broadcaster.

Mr Carson will leave in mid-September ahead of taking up a new position in Dublin with the Republic of Ireland’s public service broadcaster RTE.

Originally from Northern Ireland, Mr Carson began his career with the BBC before setting up an independent production company and then working for RTE Television. He rejoined the BBC in 2013 as head of BBC Northern Ireland Productions.

He joined BBC Scotland as head of multi-platform commissioning in 2017 and in July 2020 was appointed director of BBC Scotland.

BBC Scotland director Steve Carson appearing before the culture, tourism, Europe and external affairs Committee. Picture: PA | PA

Mr Carson said: “It has been the honour of my life to serve as director of BBC Scotland, and it has been a privilege to meet and work with so many talented people and teams across the country.

“Over the past seven years across two roles at BBC Scotland, I have been blessed to partner with the brilliant creative industry here, and together we have seen the launch of the BBC Scotland channel, landmark series including Guilt and Rebus, record levels of licence fee investment in Scotland, the biggest ever range of live sport coverage, and strong audience growth online across the BBC’s iPlayer, Sounds News and Sport products.”

He added: “There is a busy week ahead with the general election on Thursday. As we’ve just seen with our Euros coverage, the election will be an opportunity to demonstrate the full range of talent and experience that we in BBC Scotland can bring to major events – and in this case of the vital role that public service broadcasting plays in a democracy.”

As director of BBC Scotland, Mr Carson has had lead editorial responsibility for BBC services and output in Scotland. This includes news and current affairs, online and digital services and television programmes for local and UK-wide audiences.

The BBC’s director of nations, Rhodri Talfan Davies, said: “Steve’s shrewd judgment, his focus on audiences and his impressive creative instincts have been a driving force in BBC Scotland’s success over recent years.

“He is also a passionate and supportive colleague – intensely proud of the teams he leads across BBC Scotland and deeply committed to the development of the Scottish production sector.”

The BBC said the search for Mr Carson’s successor will begin immediately.

The decision comes after BBC Scotland announced it was axing its The Nine news programme as part of changes to its news and current affairs services.

The hour-long 9pm show was being replaced by a new 30-minute news programme at 7pm on the BBC Scotland Channel.

BBC Scotland said in February the moves were designed to grow the impact of broadcast news services in Scotland whilst offering audiences more ways to watch and listen to news and current affairs output across all its services.

Scottish broadcaster STV had separately announced in March its chief executive, Simon Pitts, was standing down in the spring of 2025. The announcement had come as STV reported a sharp fall in profits for 2023.