Adding to her role as Director of the BBC Academy (their training centre), Anne Morrison has been appointed Deputy Chair of BAFTA.  She will support Chair John Willis, who is in the second year of his two year term. 

The appointment of a female Deputy Chair is encouraging.  Looking more closely at the BAFTA appointments, however, you see a “woman behind the man” pattern: Chair John Willis is supported by Deputy Chair Anne Morrison, Chair of the Film Committee Nik Powell is supported by Deputy Chair Pippa Harris, and Chair of the Television Committee Andrew Newman is supported by Deputy Chair Jane Lush.

The appointment of women as the deputies is a step in the right direction and preferable to seeing a monopoly of men across the roles at BAFTA.  Of course, the next round of elections will present the opportunity for a female Chair, but don’t hold your breath – Hilary Bevan Jones (2006 – 2008) has been the only female BAFTA Chair in its 66-year-history.