Melissa Hardinge

Melissa Hardinge is the Senior Commissioning Editor on the BBC Children’s and Education Content commissioning team for 7 to 12 year olds. A former lawyer, she has worked at ITV and Channel 4, as well as the BBC’s in-house children’s department, where she produced shows such as Blue Peter and Record Breakers. She currently is responsible for a wide range of key BBC Children’s titles, including the award-winning Horrible Histories (and now Horrible Science!), Deadly 60, Go Get Arty and Gladiators: Epic Pranks. She sits on the Young BAFTA Advisory Group, and has a particular passion for putting new young talent in the way of opportunity. She knows that 79 per cent of primary school children are worried about the climate crisis, and hopes the Changemakers programme will help her innovate in this content space, and broaden her network of people who are also working out how best to do this!