[3] Born in Burnley, Lancashire, Peter Derek Salmon studied at St Theodore's RC High School in the town[4] and then the University of Warwick and graduated in 1977 with a degree in European literature.

[4] In 1981 Salmon joined the staff of the BBC in London as one of six general trainees, alongside Kevin Lygo (now head of studios at ITV), multi-award-winning film-maker Peter Kosminsky and internet entrepreneur Dominic Cameron.

[5] There he oversaw long-running documentary series such as Equinox and Cutting Edge, as well as his own commissions such as the controversial The Dying Rooms and The Red Light Zone, although the latter was much-criticised as over-sensationalist and lacking serious journalistic content.

[10] Responsible for a £652 million annual programming budget,[10] Salmon commissioned several successful programmes, such as the drama series Clocking Off (2000–03) and the sitcoms Dinnerladies (1998–2000) and My Family (2000–2011).

[12] Salmon also found himself criticised in the media for rescheduling and cutting back on the annual number of editions of BBC One's flagship current affairs series Panorama.

[12] Salmon's new role saw the BBC's sports coverage across television, radio and online services being brought together under a single head of department for the first time.

[16] Although the BBC lost the prestigious television rights to The Boat Race in 2004 during Salmon's period in charge, the department was able to win back high-profile events such as the FA Cup (in 2001, after having previously lost the event to ITV in 1997), England football internationals (in 2001), and FA Premier League football highlights for Match of the Day (2004).

[16] In July 2005, he left the BBC to become the Chief Executive of the independent production company Television Corporation, producers of programmes such as The Hamburg Cell.