‘Teflon Tim’ rode out several BBC controversies – but now he’s come unstuck | Ents & Arts News

Under his tenure, Tim Davie has had to deal with a lot.

While both he and his head of news Deborah Turness have resigned over events of the last week, it’s important to also take into account just how shaky the last couple of years have been for Davie – earning him the nickname ‘Teflon Tim’.

While his missteps on Strictly and firings on MasterChef have made tabloid headlines, it’s the errors when it comes to news coverage that are arguably most inexcusable at an organisation that prides itself on putting trust and accountability at its heart.

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You might remember Davie dodged calls for his resignation earlier this year when it emerged a child narrator on one of its documentaries was the son of a Hamas official.

They investigated, apologised and tried to move on, but just over a week ago, Davie found himself going from the frying pan into the fire.

That’s when a leaked memo by a former adviser to the corporation was published – accusing the corporation of “serious and systemic” bias in its coverage of issues including Gaza, trans rights and Donald Trump.

For an organisation that talks the talk on trust and accountability being such an important part of what it stands for, time and time again under Davie’s tenure, it has felt almost as if – rather than coming out and facing the press – he’s perfected the art of strategic invisibility.

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While some may see him as a victim of culture wars in the time of Trump, the director-general spent the week ignoring the fire alarms going off inside the BBC.

The truth is, he’d left it far too late. The heat was far too hot for him to do anything else but resign.