Anne Mensah: Last News

K.J. Yossman Anne Mensah, Netflix’s U.K. VP of content, is one of the streamer’s most senior U.K.

Adolescence has been a ratings winner around the world for Netflix, but Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham‘s series has also made political waves in the UK.

Netflix’s Adolescence is continuing its record-breaking march.

The stars of big streaming hits Rivals and Baby Reindeer have scooped gongs at this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild (BPG) Awards.

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EXCLUSIVE: Disney‘s hunt for its next European content supremo reached the very highest echelons of the BBC, but the Mouse House looks to have emerged empty-handed.

EXCLUSIVE: After spooking both sides of the Atlantic with their hit series Ghosts, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond have found their next project.

Amid an ongoing lawsuit, Netflix is standing by Baby Reindeer as a dramatic work of fiction.

The 2024 Edinburgh TV Festival draws to a close today, and this year’s event has been full of talking points, some positive and other not so much. While execs and creatives on the ground said there was a relatively subdued feel compared to some years when there have been real fireworks, there was a cautious sense that the brutal financial landscape for the British television market might finally be turning into a brighter picture. Indeed, Channel 4 content boss Ian Katz raised spirits and eyebrows in equal measure when he wrote on the eve of the fest that the network’s spending level is back to 2019 levels, while the likes of Charlotte Moore and Anne Mensah shared optimistic views about the future. Here are our five key takeaways from the Scottish capital. (Ed’s note: this article is replacing this week’s International Insider, which will return in its usual form in seven days.)

Netflix has insisted that Baby Reindeer is a “drama, not a documentary”, despite the hit series being labelled a “true story”.Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Anne Mensah, the vice-president of Netflix’s content across the UK, said the streaming company would be “disappointed” if the true-story claim at the beginning of series detracted from the importance of the story, which touches on issues of sexual assault and stalking.“I absolutely stand by the fact that we made the show a drama, not a documentary, and that will remain how we see the show,” she said (via The Telegraph).It comes after the company came under scrutiny from those who claim to have been depicted in the series, which was created by and stars Scottish comedian Richard Gadd.Also starring Jessica Gunning as his stalker, Martha Scott, Baby Reindeer depicts a dramatised account of Gadd’s own experiences.Following the programmes overnight success, a woman named Fiona Harvey came forward claiming to be the inspiration behind Martha, alleging the story was inaccurate and filing a $170million (£133m) lawsuit against Netflix.When asked about the controversy surrounding the series and its claim of being a “true story”, Mensah said it was “amazing” how much the show had touched people and cited an icncrease in men calling hotlines to seek help.“It was important for those reasons,” she said, adding: “If you feel it detracted from that, I would be absolutely disappointed, but I absolutely stand by all the show.”She also insisted that the aim of the series was not to generate controversy, explaining that Netflix “does not make shows for publicity’s sake”.“It was about giving a creator the space to tell their story and that is true of everything we do,” she added.

Netflix‘s UK content chief, Anne Mensah, has called on the TV industry to face up to its in-built biases and help allow diverse creatives to “find their truth.”

Netflix UK will not be changing its commissioning course when the streamer stops reporting quarterly subs numbers, according to its programing chief.

Scoop, the Netflix film chronicling Prince Andrew‘s humbling interview on the BBC, has enjoyed a relatively regal reception from British audiences.

The Gentlemen features Ray Winstone as a barbeque-devouring drug lord, and the Guy Ritchie series has put in a meaty display with British audiences.

EXCLUSIVE: At the 2021 Edinburgh TV Festival, the BBC and Netflix unveiled what the pair described as a landmark five-year disability partnership that would unearth a new generation of shows helmed by disabled talent.

Alex Ritman Netflix U.K., the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) and the Personal Managers’ Association (PMA) — which represents U.K. agents — have signed a first-of-its-kind deal on remuneration. Unveiled Tuesday, the deal will apply to U.K.

Netflix has struck a deal with the Writers Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) over live-action scripted series for the first time.

Almost four years after Marc Helwig joined Miramax as Head Of Worldwide Television, he walked the London red carpet Tuesday for the global premiere of the company’s Guy Ritchie series for Netflix, The Gentlemen, alongside celebrity guests like David Beckham and Jason Statham.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has added to its UK drama commissioning team by hiring Best Interests EP Toby Bentley from AC Chapter One.

Netflix’s is getting in on Oppenheimer fever by ordering a doc about Albert Einstein’s complex relationship with Hitler, Germany and the devastating aftermath of the atomic bomb in Japan.

EXCLUSIVE: Small Axe star Shaniqua Okwok has criticized The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama for paying lip service to anti-discrimination pledges after the prestigious UK drama school failed to say whether it disciplined a teacher accused of a “racist incident.”