BBC names drama indie chief

UK pubcaster the BBC has promoted Luther producer Liz Kilgarriff to become its new indie drama commissioning chief.

Kilgarriff will replace Polly Hill, who was promoted to drama controller to replace the LA-bound Ben Stephenson after spending six years as independent drama commissioning editor.

Kilgarriff is currently working on new drama Thirteen, and has in the past produced cult cop hit Luther, plus other key BBC titles such as Upstairs Downstairs.

In the new post, she will work with Matthew Read and Lucy Richer to work up drama projects from indies.

Hill was promoted to drama chief after Stephenson was named head of television for J.J. Abrams’ Santa Monica-based producer Bad Robot Productions, which counts TV series such as Lost, Alias and the upcoming HBO show Westworld on its CV.