TalkBack (1985–2005) In 1985 he joined the staff of the independent production company
TalkBack Productions as a
producer. At the time the company, which was founded by comedians
Mel Smith and
Griff Rhys Jones, produced
radio programming, television advertisements and corporate videos. Fincham became the company's managing director in 1986,
BBC One (2005–2007) Fincham was regarded in some quarters as a surprising choice as controller, as prior to his appointment he had never worked for either the BBC or any other broadcaster, having spent his career in the independent production sector. In 2006,
The Guardian newspaper reported that he was ultimately responsible for an annual programming budget at BBC One of £873 million. Fincham oversaw the commissioning of successful BBC One programmes such as
Jane Eyre,
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? (both 2006) and
Robin Hood (2006–09). His first full year in charge saw a year-on-year growth in the channel's audience share, with BBC One earning a 23.6% share in August 2006, compared to 22.2% in the same month in 2005. Fincham directly initiated the creation of both the early evening current affairs and lifestyle programme
The One Show (2006–present) and the prime time chat show
Davina (2006), the latter designed as a vehicle for presenter
Davina McCall. However,
Davina was a critical and ratings disaster, which Fincham subsequently admitted was personally his fault, although he defended the strategy of experimenting with the BBC One schedule. It was also Fincham's decision to scrap the BBC One
"Rhythm and Movement" idents, which had been used to provide the channel with its on-screen identity between programmes since they were introduced by Heggessey in 2002. They were replaced by a new set of idents, known as the
"Circle idents", in the autumn of 2006; however, Fincham again found himself criticised, this time by
The Daily Telegraph newspaper, for the decision to spend £1.2 million on the set of eight ten-second films, some of which were shot in Mexico and
Croatia. Fincham also found himself having to publicly defend the £18 million salary the BBC awarded presenter
Jonathan Ross in 2006, although Ross's BBC One work – which primarily consisted of
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross,
Film... and various one-off events – formed only part of his BBC commitment, which also encompassed programmes for
BBC Three and
BBC Radio 2. On 18 May 2007, Fincham decided to drop the Australian soap opera
Neighbours from BBC One after 21 years on the channel, when its producers increased the price they wanted the BBC to pay for it in a bidding war. Fincham commented that: "We'd love to have kept it but not at any price." Fincham admitted the error, and initially rejected calls that he should resign from his position as a result. However, the publication of the
Wyatt Report on 5 October led to his resignation.
ITV (2008–2016) On 28 February 2008 it was announced that the
ITV network, the BBC's main rival, had hired Fincham to be its new director of television. At the
Edinburgh Television Festival in August 2008, Fincham claimed that broadcasters such as ITV were under too much pressure from industry regulator
Ofcom to produce programmes that were only of a minority interest, as opposed to pure entertainment programmes for a mainstream audience. In 2010 he decided to axe the long-running drama series
The Bill; ATV News Network reported 97% of the public were against the drama being dropped.. In December 2011, he took the unilateral decision to remove a song from
The Jonathan Ross Show that was commissioned especially for the programme by the comedian and songwriter
Tim Minchin. The song, titled "Woody Allen Jesus", had already been approved by Ross's producer and ITV's legal compliance officers. Minchin, disappointed at the decision, later made the footage available on his own site where he also criticised Fincham's decision. In January 2016, ITV announced that Fincham had decided to step down as director of television and leave the company.
Expectation (2016–) After leaving ITV, Fincham launched the independent production company Expectation with co-CEO Tim Hincks, the former president of
Endemol Shine Group, producing such shows as ''
Clarkson's Farm and Alma's Not Normal''. Since 2020, Fincham and
Jon Plowman have presented four series of
What’s Funny About… on
BBC Radio 4 Extra. In April 2025, Fincham and
Jimmy Mulville started a podcast about the TV industry. ==Personal life==