Woman behind 'Walking with Dinosaurs' completes female triumvirate at top of BBC

The woman who brought the nation Walking with Dinosaurs is to become the BBC's director of television, completing a triumvirate of top females working with the director-general, Greg Dyke.

Jana Bennett will return to the BBC in April, two years after she left to work in the fiercely competitive world of cable television in the United States, where she was a senior manager with Discovery.

She will be in charge of the £1.3bn programming budget across BBC1 and BBC2 and the new digital channels, BBC3 and BBC4, due to be launched in March. She succeeds Mark Thompson, who is moving to Channel 4, where he will be chief executive, a post for which Ms Bennett was also tipped.

Mr Dyke said yesterday: "Jana's experience and success over the last two and a half years, running a channel in the American multi-channel market, gives her invaluable perspective. Her track record at the BBC was brilliant."

Ms Bennett was the BBC executive who spotted the potential for using computer technology to bring dinosaurs to life and commissioned Walking with Dinosaurs, the most expensive documentary the BBC had ever made. She will work with Lorraine Heggessey, controller of BBC1, and Jane Root, controller of BBC2.

* The BBC's first new music radio station in 32 years, 6 Music, will go live on 11 March. Thedigital channel will champion the best in rock and pop from the past 40 years but also give a platform to more obscure and less commercial tracks.