EXCLUSIVE: Sarah Dillistone has made her first big hire at Channel 4’s in-house production biz.
Dillistone has snapped up The Cube creator Adam Adler as Creative Director and he will lead on the creation of new shows for the nascent unit.
Adler is a highly-regarded British formats executive who is best known as creator of ITV’s The Cube, which ran for 11 seasons and nearly 100 episodes beween 2009 and 2021. An American version aired for three seasons on TBS. Adler’s other creations include Bar Wars and The Games, while he has most recently been EPing Channel 4’s upcoming Derren Brown: Incognito. He is a former Channel 4 entertainment commissioner and also ran an indie, Gameface, before moving to ITV Studios-owned label Potato.
Channel 4’s in-house production biz emerged from the UK government’s botched attempt to sell off the broadcaster and is one way in which the Gogglebox network can forge IP, which can then be sold around the world. The unit, which Channel 4 says is separated from its commissioning team by a “clear operational firewall,” unveiled ex-Made in Chelsea showrunner Dillistone as its lead at the start of 2026. She relocated to London from L.A., where she spent six years making shows like Perfect Match and The Ultimatum.
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More updates on the creative and development side of Channel 4 in-house are expected soon.
Dillistone called Adler an “unrivalled creative force.” “He is one of the most prolific format creators around spanning gameshow, reality and entertainment,” she added. “Adam’s experience originating ambitious and unpredictable formats from The Cube to Channel 4’s brand new reality series Incognito, coupled with my own background originating and showrunning reality, social experiments and relationship shows, makes for an exciting mix.”
Adler added: “I’m really excited to be joining Dilly at the start of this new venture. Channel 4 has always had attitude and originality, and I’d love us to bottle some of that up and take it out into the world. The ambition is to create exciting ideas with that same spirit, for TV and beyond.”
In other Channel 4 news, highly-rated docs chief Alisa Pomeroy has taken on the top head of unscripted job amid the restructure that is seeing around half of commissioners laid off. Pomeroy’s fiefdom has expanded vastly and she is now looking after documentaries, factual entertainment, reality, entertainment and specialist factual.
A day before Pomeroy’s promotion, Broadcast reported that comedy boss Charlie Perkins and entertainment chief Steve Handley are leaving. A scripted supremo looking after both drama and comedy is expected to be appointed in the coming months. New content boss David Brindley begins his rein in January.
