Hamish Mykura joins National Geographic

Hamish Mykura, the former head of documentaries at Channel 4, has joined National Geographic Channels International.

Mykura, who left Channel 4 only last month, has quickly resurfaced at Nat Geo, taking a dual role of London head of global development and executive vice president for National Geographic Channels International (NGCI).

He will start in early 2012, based at National Geographic Channels' London office.

In the new role, Mykura will oversee all editorial development and production for National Geographic's international channels - including NGC, NGC HD, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Wild HD and Nat Geo Adventure - reporting to Hernan Lopez, the chief executive of NGCI & Fox International Channels.

He will also be responsible for bringing projects from UK-based production houses to NGC's global commissioning team in Washington DC, reporting to Michael Cascio, executive vice president of content at National Geographic US.

"With more than 20 years of experience in the television industry, Hamish brings outstanding insight and vision to NGCI," said Lopez.

"Working closely with NGCI regional programmers and UK-based production houses, Hamish will build upon a solid foundation to bring new viewers to the National Geographic brand."

National Geographic US chief executive David Lyle added: "Expanding our development presence in the UK is key to our strategy of reaching out to the production community globally and forming more partnerships to produce the best programming for our channels.

"Hamish is the perfect person to be leading this charge for us in the UK."

In his almost ten years at Channel 4, Mykura helped develop a string of hit documentaries, including One Born Every Minute, The Falling Man, 24 Hours in A&E, Katie: My Beautiful Friends and Seven Dwarves.

He was also previously head of More4, guiding the digital network from the 12th to 8th most-watched digital channel in the UK, gaining particular international acclaim for the True Stories strand.

"This is an incredibly exciting opportunity with a major international broadcaster," said Mykura.

"I'm looking forward to using the experience I've had commissioning successful series at Channel 4 to find and develop the very best content from independent producers in the UK and around the world. I've got big ambitions to make these channels more popular than ever."

Channel 4 moved quickly to appoint a new documentaries chief following Mykura's departure, with Ralph Lee promoted to the new role of head of factual.