BBC Studios Productions CEO Zai Bennett has announced a number of changes in the company’s factual and entertainment genres and its international division.
Kate Ward will lead a new business – Unscripted Productions – that merges the Factual, UK Entertainment and Entertainment Development portfolios to create a single production entity.
In her new role as Managing Director, Ward will be responsible for the Factual and Entertainment units and labels including the Natural History Unit, Science Unit, Specialist Factual Productions, Documentary Unit, BBC Studios UK Entertainment – as well as labels and invested indies including Voltage TV, Mothership TV, Samphire Films and Mettlemouse Entertainment. Ward has headed the Factual division since 2023.
Suzy Lamb, MD Entertainment UK, and Karl Warner, EVP UK Entertainment and Digital Development, will now report directly to Bennett. Lamb’s team produce titles such as Strictly Come Dancing, The One Show, Glastonbury, The Weakest Link and Dragons’ Den, with Warner and team tasked with developing new hits.
Bennett also pledged resources and investment to scale BBC Studios’ international business. A standalone, newly titled Global Production business will be led by Matt Forde as President to accelerate production activity outside the UK. Forde has already steered BBC Studios’ expansion in key markets with local producer acquisitions including STV in the Nordics, Brutal in Spain and Werner in Australia, as well as growing a slate of internationally adapted formats such as The 1% Club, Ghosts, and The Honesty Box.
Bennett said: “There’s been an increased demand for unscripted programming in our customers’ content strategies, so a single Unscripted business gives us an incredibly potent offering for the market – and it’s the right moment to significantly increase our international production footprint. I’m thrilled that the collective creative and commercial expertise and experience of Kate, Matt, Suzy and Karl will be leading this charge, and I couldn’t ask for better leaders to empower our amazing teams to deliver even greater success.”
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