Ben Stephenson


Bad Robot boards Michael Jackson drama

J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions has become a coproducer on a Warner Bros. Television event series about the late pop star Michael Jackson. Bar Robot will join Warner and Smiley Television & Film as a copro partner of the adaptation of Before You Judge Me: The Triumph and Tragedy of Michael Jackson’s Last Days, which […]

Vice CEO to keynote Edinburgh TV Festival

Vice co-founder and CEO Shane Smith will deliver this year’s James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival in August. The keynote is traditionally a significant event in the UK television calendar, and has been delivered in the past by the likes of Ted Turner, Peter Bazalgette, Rupert Murdoch, Kevin Spacey and, last […]

BBC Wales drama chief to join War & Peace prodco

BBC Wales head of drama Faith Penhale (pictured) will join the prodco behind upcoming drama War & Peace, Lookout Point, as joint CEO. Starting in February 2016, she will work alongside Lookout Point founder and co-chief executive Simon Vaughan to develop the firm’s original drama slate. She currently oversees the BBC Drama department behind shows […]

BBC Wales drama chief to join War & Peace prodco

BBC Wales head of drama Faith Penhale (pictured) will join the prodco behind upcoming drama War & Peace, Lookout Point, as joint CEO. Starting in February 2016, she will work alongside Lookout Point founder and co-chief executive Simon Vaughan to develop the firm’s original drama slate. She currently oversees the BBC Drama department behind shows […]

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 […]

BBC finds Stephenson drama replacement

Polly Hill has been appointed controller of drama commissioning at the BBC, replacing the outgoing Ben Stephenson at the UK pubcaster. Hill has been head of independent drama since 2011, ordering series including The Missing, The Honourable Woman, Death in Paradise and Poldark. She said: “Under Ben Stephenson’s leadership BBC Drama has thrived, it’s in […]

BBC drama boss exits for J.J. Abrams prodco

The BBC’s drama chief, Ben Stephenson, is leaving the UK public broadcaster and relocating to LA. He will join J.J. Abrams’ production company, Bad Robot Productions, as head of television. Stephenson has been controller of drama commissioning at the BBC since 2008, during which time he has greenlit shows such as Sherlock, Wolf Hall, Luther […]

BBC decommissions detective drama

UK pubcaster the BBC is ending its detective drama New Tricks after its twelfth run. The show, which comes from Warner Bros. Television Production UK-owned Headstrong Pictures and follows a retired cop unit investigating cold cases, launched in 2003 as a 90-minute special before going to become a stalwart scripted series for BBC One. Yesterday, […]

Sundance, BBCWW join The Honourable Woman as Gyllenhall signs up

Sundance Channel in the US and BBC Worldwide have come on board upcoming drama The Honourable Woman. Maggie Gyllenhaal has signed up as the lead in the Hugo Blick (The Shadow Line) drama, which was commissioned by BBC Two in the UK. Sundance will be a coproduction partner and show the series in the US. […]

BBC orders Cold War drama from Spooks producer

UK public broadcaster the BBC has ordered Legacy, a Cold War drama from UK indie Slim Film + Television. It is the first commission for Slim, the production company set up by Simon Crawford Collins (above), who during his time as managing director of Kudos produced Spooks, Hustle and Ashes to Ashes. The one-off TV […]