The BBC may rue the day that it accepted Peter Fincham’s resignation over “Crowngate”. The former Controller of BBC One has been named as ITV’s new head of tele- vision, with a mission to steal viewers from his former employer.

The appointment of Mr Fincham, a multimillionaire producer with a track record of successful programmes, was described as a coup in the commercial network’s battle with the corporation.

Mr Fincham, 51, resigned last year after the release of a trailer which suggested wrongly that the Queen had “stormed out” of a photoshoot. An independent inquiry found that Mr Fincham should have done more to correct the misleading impression. The criticism was mild and colleagues believed that the popular executive was “hung out to dry” by BBC bosses.

His move to ITV was secured by Michael Grade, the executive chairman who defected from the corporation himself in 2006. Mr Fincham described the challenge of taking on the BBC as irresistible.

Mr Grade has asked Mr Fincham, whose BBC ratings successes included Life on Mars, Planet Earth and How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, to revitalise the network. A programming relaunch, centred on bold upmarket drama and the return of News at Ten, has failed to achieve significant improvements in viewing figures. ITV1’s audience share fell to 16.9 per cent in the 9pm slot, with the royal satire The Palace struggling to hold viewers on Mondays and Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach, the paired soap-cum-drama, delivering audiences as low as three million on Fridays.

ITV must also regain the trust of viewers after a damaging series of phone-in scandals involving its most popular entertainment shows. Critics said that Mr Fincham, who replaces Simon Shaps, an ITV veteran, as director of television, may lack the authority to achieve this because of the fallout from the Crowngate affair.

BBC insiders fear that Mr Fincham, who made £12 million from the sale of Talkback, the production company founded by Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith, has “unfinished business”. The BBC has cut its programming budget in response to a licence fee settlement that was lower than it had demanded.

His successor at BBC One, Jay Hunt, has yet to arrive because she is still under contract at Five. A BBC source said: “It’s a good time to take us on and Peter will enjoy the ratings battle. Many people believe he was shabbily treated here.”

Mr Grade said: “Peter’s programme-making, commissioning and scheduling experience make him uniquely qualified for the job and I am deeply impressed by his competitive instincts — particularly at the BBC.”

Mr Fincham said: “Becoming director of television at ITV is an irresistible new challenge and an enormously exciting opportunity.”

ITV’s share price has plummeted since Mr Grade’s appointment and profits are predicted to be significantly lower than those from 2006.

Mr Fincham will be assisted by ITV’s acquisition of live FA Cup and England football games from next season and coverage of Lewis Hamilton’s attempt to win the Formula One championship. He will inherit the Saturday night hit The X Factor but must find more dramas in the peak-time slots to challenge successful BBC One shows such as Spooks and Ashes to Ashes, the spin-off from the police drama Life on Mars.

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