It was a most agreeable end to a fascinating week for Archie Norman. Nine days ago, the former Asda chairman headed into Hampshire for lunch and a spot of pheasant shooting.

Even the pelting rain could not dampen the nine-strong party’s spirits. After a morning’s shoot, they took shelter in the pavilion for a hearty lunch of shepherd’s pie followed by apple crumble.

It was exactly the sort of gathering where the gossip flows, even though very few of the guests chose to sample what was a rather good claret.

The host was Roger Parry, the chairman of Media Square, the marketing services group. He once drew up plans to buy ITV with Merrill Lynch, the investment bank. Also present was Rupert Howell, the broadcaster’s commercial director.

What the lunch party did not realise was that Norman, better known as a retailer, turnround specialist and Conservative politician, had agreed in principle to become chairman of ITV only days before.

In such company, it was a perfect time to divulge his secret, but Norman kept his counsel, just as he had while milling about at a headhunters’ drinks party in St James’s the previous evening.

“There was no clue at all,” said one member of the shooting party. “Not an inkling.”

Norman’s appointment was firmed up last weekend and rubber-stamped by the ITV board on Tuesday night in a meeting at their office on the South Bank of the Thames.

It came as a complete surprise — and not just to Norman’s companions that wet afternoon in Hampshire. It did not take the City long to warm to the appointment. Shareholders were uniformly delighted. “I can see the read-across from retail to media,” said a headhunter. “Norman has a great reputation for surrounding himself with great talent.”

Not only had Norman not been linked with the role, but ITV’s previous attempts to find a successor to Michael Grade as either chairman or chief executive had proved shambolic and anything but a secret.

Simon Fox, the HMV chief executive, was persuaded to stay at the DVD retailer by shareholders when his name leaked out. His exit lent traction to the very public campaign by former BSkyB boss Tony Ball to be installed at the broadcaster, which split the ITV board over his pay demands.

When those talks broke down, Sir James Crosby, ITV’s senior independent director, scrambled to find a new chairman as Grade let it be known he wanted out.

First Sir Crispin Davis, the former Reed Elsevier boss, then Sir Michael Bishop, the BMI British Midland tycoon, turned down what was fast becoming a poisoned chalice. The pressure on Crosby, and his fellow non-executive directors, was intense.

When Norman first took the call three weeks ago, he was determined things would have to be different if he was to proceed. Rae Sedel, the experienced headhunter at Russell Reynolds, agreed.

Norman was certainly interested. After several years in private equity — his biggest deal had been to buy tool hire firm HSS — and advising Australian retailer Coles on its strategy, he had been mulling a return to UK plc for six months or so.

ITV was ideal: a big name in need of a firm, professional hand at the tiller. Still, he made it clear that if his name leaked, he would have been unlikely to accept the job.

A series of meetings with Crosby and the rest of ITV’s nominations committee ensued. As well as them finding out more about him, Norman needed to investigate the broadcaster’s affairs for himself.

He consulted Nick Shott. The long-time adviser to ITV is a senior banker at Lazard, where Norman has been an adviser for the past six years. There was also a long session with Ian Griffiths, ITV’s finance director, who has been getting to grips with the company’s pension deficit. Norman was assured that ITV, which had begun to pay down its debt, did not need a rights issue.

The last thing he wanted was to take the job only to find ITV’s improved trading masked deeper problems. That had been the case at Asda. When Norman arrived in 1991, the management had underestimated how weak trading was. He was forced to sell excess property, freeze pay, and he didn’t open another store for three years.

It was slow going and took eight years before the supermarket chain was reinvigorated and sold to Wal-Mart for £6.7 billion. Energis, the business telecoms carrier, took three years to bring back to life and sell for £674m to Cable & Wireless.

The closest Norman had been to the TV industry before was to appear on it.

That is where he and Howell met, when they appeared on BBC2’s Money Programme in the 1990s. Both Asda and Howell’s advertising agency HHCL — which coined the “You’ve Been Tangoed” catchphrase and launched airline Go and Egg, the online bank — had installed chest-high boardroom tables that forced directors to stand round them.

“We don’t like long meetings,” said Howell. ITV’s commercial boss is keen to show that Norman is arriving at a time when the broadcaster’s trading performance is on the up. He may even be a candidate to be its next chief executive.

While Norman handled the press last week, Howell entertained advertisers and agencies to its “upfronts” — a peek at TV shows that will air next year, designed to get orders for airtime rolling in.

At a presentation on Thursday afternoon, Howell and TV chief Peter Fincham, were joined by Amanda Holden, Steve Rider and Fearne Cotton for a presentation at their studios.

Over the next month, 80% of ITV’s advertising spots for 2010 — hopefully boosted by the football World Cup — will be negotiated. How much each slot goes for depends on the audience watching and their demographic and so is worked out later.

That ITV has been outperforming the TV advertising market of late bodes well for next year. Helped by The X Factor finale, ITV forecasts a 4% rise in December advertising.

Because it has delivered so many viewers to firms that advertise round The X Factor and I’m a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! its prices will go up, potentially hitting £250,000 for a 30-second prime slot during The X Factor final.

Howell is also working to improve ITV's income from sponsorship — currently £50m a year — and talking to advertisers about product placement, which could become a reality from July. Advertiser-funded programming is also coming along. Accounting software group Sage recently announced it would fund a series of The Krypton Factor. “TV is very like retail in the sense that we know the next morning how we did the previous day,” said Howell. But because it still commands 47% of the TV advertising market, the contract rights renewal formula caps how much ITV can charge.

As a former Tory MP, Norman may be of the right political hue to get something done about that next year. It will be part of a bigger transformation he is planning, along with recruiting a chief executive committed for the long term.

Unlike his top-secret arrival, Norman’s ambitions for the broadcaster won’t be kept under wraps for long.

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