Who are the possible successors to Mark Thompson as BBC Director-General?

Caroline Thomson

She would be a safe pair of hands as the first female Director General. A key BBC strategist with a broad range of management experience she was greatly valued by Mark Thompson and has a deep understanding of the future challenges facing the organisation. But she lacks public profile and needs to show she has the necessary charisma to run a global institution like the BBC.

Helen Boaden

She is the director of BBC News and, like Mark Thompson, has impeccable journalistic credentials. A former controller of Radio 4, she would be a popular appointment as Director General among the intellectual core of the audience and would be popular with programme makers. A former presenter of “Woman’s Hour”, she is known as a moderniser.

Tim Davie

Known for being fiercely ambitious and competitive – he takes part in extreme marathons – Davie’s point of difference over his rivals is his commercial experience outside the media as an executive at PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble. He has done a good job as head of BBC audio and music but lacks experience across the portfolio.

George Entwistle

Another steady internal candidate, the highbrow head of BBC Vision has extensive experience in BBC journalism – he was an editor of “Newsnight” - and in wider programme-making areas, having launched “The Culture Show” on BBC Two.

Peter Fincham

One of the real stars of the television industry, Fincham made his fortune running commercial company TalkbackThames and has helped to revitalise the fortunes of ITV as its Director of Television. He has even run BBC One, except that he lost that job over the “Crowngate” fiasco, the one blot on his record.