Quick Facts
Biography
Kevin Lygo (born 18 September 1957) is a British television executive, presently head of studios at ITV.
Educated at Cranbrook School, Kent, Lygo studied music at Durham University. On graduation he was one of three trainees to join the BBC, alongside Peter Salmon (former BBC head of sport) and multi-award-winning film-maker Peter Kosminsky. After the two years trainee-ship as a comedy script writer, during which he worked on The Two Ronnies, Lygo worked freelance including on the launch of Terry Wogan's BBC1 chatshow.
Lygo then left the television industry for seven years, part of which he spent in France as a dealer in Islamic art, with a gallery in Paris. Persuaded by friend Richard Curtis to produce Comic Relief, he came back on a six-month contract with the BBC. He then rejoined the BBC on a permanent contract, commissioning shows including Men Behaving Badly and They Think It's All Over.
Hired in 1997 by Channel 4, Lygo was Channel 4's head of entertainment between 1998 and 2001, where he commissioned TFI Friday, Smack the Pony, So Graham Norton, Trigger Happy TV and Spaced. After spending two years at Five on its launch, he returned to Channel 4 in 2003 as director of television and content, where he commissioned Big Brother, Sugar Rush and The F Word, and poached Richard and Judy.
From February 1st, 2016 he became the Director of Television for the ITV Network.