Tom Fussell: Last News

BBC Studios has posted another record financial year, the BBC annual report reveals, as the Corporation’s production and sales wing continues its aggressive commercial push.

BBC Studios has acquired Werner Film Productions, the company behind Australian drama hit The Newsreader.

BBC Studios is increasing its debt facility by £250M ($318M) — a move that closely follows the acquisition of BritBox International, its biggest ever single transaction.

BBC Studios has paid £255M ($321M) to acquire ITV‘s shareholding in their joint venture streamer, BritBox International — the biggest ever single transaction for the BBC’s commercial wing.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC, has passed £2 billion ($2.7 billion) in sales and nudged up profits to £240 million, but an advertising downturn is hitting its channels and streaming business. The corporation unveiled its annual report for 2022/2023 on Tuesday amid an ongoing presenter scandal that’s kept the BBC in national headlines since July 6. A planned virtual briefing with top brass was largely taken up by questions about the BBC’s handling of a complaint against one of its presenters, who remains unnamed due to privacy concerns. While BBC Studios CEO Tom Fussell was meant to brief select press about the annual report, this was canceled due to the wider scandal, which saw director general Tim Davie take the brunt of questions from journalists.

BBC Studios is gearing up for next week’s Showcase event by signing a global first-look deal with former Warner Bros. Australia TV boss Shaun Murphy.

Doctor Who’s latest regeneration represents “excellent commercial value,” according to BBC Studios boss Tom Fussell.

EXCLUSIVE: BBC Studios is eyeing more LA expansion after Mark Linsey relocates early next year, while Linsey has unveiled changes to his scripted team.

BBC Studios powerhouse Natural History Unit (NHU), which makes Frozen Planet, Blue Planet and Jon Favreau’s Prehistoric Planet, has nearly doubled employment in the Bristol creative industries over the past few years, according to a BBC report that says almost 50,000 jobs will be forged outside London by 2027. The news comes with the BBC under significant financial pressure, made worse by inflation, according to a speech by Nations Director Rhodri Talfan Davies earlier today.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Tim Davie, BBC director-general, underscored the importance of creative risk-taking to the British broadcaster, when interviewed onstage at TV market Mipcom on Monday, which coincided with the BBC’s 100th anniversary. Davie’s appearance onstage followed a presentation by Tom Fussell, CEO of BBC Studios, the broadcaster’s commercial arm. He announced that BBC Studios is set to wholly acquire Sid Gentle Films, the production company behind hits such as “Killing Eve.” He showed a clip from the company’s new show “Rain Dogs,” starring Daisy May Cooper. Cash Carraway is writer and executive producer. Fussell also announced that BBC Studios’ managing director of scripted, Mark Linsey, is set to relocate to Los Angeles in order to help build its co-production, investment and commissioning opportunities internationally.

BBC DG Tim Davie and Studios CEO Tom Fussell have said the BBC is now a “fully global operation,” as they shared a stage for the first time at Mipcom Cannes.

K.J. Yossman BBC Studios is set to wholly acquire Sid Gentle Films, the production company behind hits such as “Killing Eve” and “Ragdoll.” BBC Studios, the BBC’s commercial production and distribution arm, is intent on growing its portfolio of U.K. scripted labels. It already wholly owns Lookout Point (“Happy Valley 3”), Clerkenwell Films (“Somewhere Boy”), House Productions (“Sherwood”) and most recently Firebird Pictures (“Wahala”) and is the controlling shareholder in Baby Cow (“Chivalry”). In 2018 it acquired a 51% stake in Sid Gentle, which was founded in 2013 by Sally Woodward Gentle, with Lee Morris and Henrietta Colvin.

BBC Studios has taken full control of Killing Eve producer Sid Gentle Films.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Vice Studios global president Kate Ward is joining BBC Studios to oversee its factual portfolio, Variety can reveal. Ward has been appointed to the role of managing director for factual at BBC Studios Productions, where she replaces Tom McDonald, who left the company earlier this year to join National Geographic. With her new role, the well-respected executive — who most recently served as president of global studios and Pulse Films for Vice Media Group — will take on one of the most significant production portfolios in the U.K. industry, spanning the BBC’s Natural History Unit, Documentary Unit and Science Unit. She will also oversee relationships with BBC Studios’ roster of production companies, including Louis Theroux’s Mindhouse Productions, David Olusoga’s Uplands TV and James and Soleta Rogan’s Rogan Productions.

Banijay CEO Marco Bassetti is to deliver a keynote at Mipcom.

BBC Studios To Receive Inaugural Mipcom Studio Of Distinction Award

Manori Ravindran International EditorBBC Studios will make its return to Cannes this fall, and will be honored at Mipcom with an inaugural Studio of Distinction Award.Created by Mipcom organizers RX France to mark “a landmark achievement by a global studio or platform,” the award will be presented to production-distribution powerhouse BBC Studios in the week that the BBC marks 100 years of public service broadcasting in the U.K. and in its 90th year of international broadcasting.Senior BBC Studios executives are set to give keynote addresses at both Mip Junior and Mipcom.On the opening day of Mipcom, Tom Fussell, in his first public address as CEO of BBC Studios, will take the stage to discuss the “rapid pace of change” at the studio, whose recent credits include “Frozen Planet II,” “Good Omens,” “Prehistoric Planet,” “Top Gear” and “Happy Valley 3.” He will also speak about the company’s next chapter.

Naman Ramachandran Lorraine Burgess has been confirmed as chief financial officer at BBC Studios after serving as interim CFO since July 2021. Burgess will report into chief executive Tom Fussell.Producer-distributor BBC Studios is U.K. broadcaster BBC’s largest commercial subsidiary, which contributed sales of £1.25 billion ($1.7 billion) in the 2020/2021 financial year.

BBC Studios has appointed Lorraine Burgess, the former MD of Idris Elba’s Green Door Pictures, as Chief Financial Officer.

BBC Studios has promoted Rebecca Glashow to the newly created position of CEO of global distribution.

Naman Ramachandran BBC Studios, the commercial arm of U.K. broadcaster BBC, has promoted Rebecca Glashow to the newly created role of CEO, global distribution.