10. Jane Tranter

Jane Tranter
Jane Tranter. Photograph: BBC

Job: controller of fiction, BBC
Age: 45
Industry: broadcasting
Annual programming budget: £440m
Staff: 65
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Jane Tranter is the second most important person at the BBC. As the corporation's grandly-titled controller of fiction, Tranter is responsible for drama, comedy, film and acquisitions across the corporation's entire television output. If that sounds impressive, then so is her annual budget.

"Tranter has a strong claim to be the most important cultural figure in the country," said our panel. "She is the most important person at the BBC in terms of programming outside of [director general] Mark Thompson."

The corporation veteran, who has twice been a frontrunner to be BBC1 controller, and twice ruled herself out, is also a "law unto herself", said our panel. "No-one else can tell her what to do."

Which is a good thing and also possibly a bad thing. Her critics claim her elevated title, created in 2006 as one of three "super commissioners" in BBC Vision, puts too much power in the hands of one person. Tranter is one of those executives who inspires fierce loyalty but also criticism.

Rumoured to be leaving her job for a new role with BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm, in Los Angeles, Tranter told the Royal Television Society this month she was "not about to leave and go and work in the US".

Previously the BBC's controller of drama commissioning, Tranter has helped transform the BBC's output with shows such as Cranford, Life on Mars and The Street. Then there are big hit returning shows such as Doctor Who and Waking The Dead, and miniseries like Five Days and The Passion.

Tranter, a shoo-in for the BBC1 controller's job should she ever want it - perhaps she is waiting for something bigger - first ruled herself out after Lorraine Heggessey's departure in 2005. She again declined to apply for the job last year following Peter Fincham's exit in the wake of the "Crowngate" scandal.

She has come a long way since working as an assistant floor manager on EastEnders and Bergerac, where she began her television career in 1986. After working as a script editor on Casualty, she joined Carlton - where she executive produced ill-fated soap London Bridge - before returning to the BBC in 1997.

"Compared to other countries we do bloody well, right across the channels," Tranter said of the UK television industry.

"If you set yourself high enough standards you're occasionally going to fall short and someone's going to take a pop at you, but the day the BBC stops being discussed is the day we should turn the lights off and go home."



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