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BBC drama boss to depart

Piers Wenger will leave BBC after a decade commissioning titles such as The Tourist, His Dark Materials, Bodyguard, Vigil, I May Destroy You & Normal People.

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BBC Director of Drama, Piers Wenger will leave the broadcaster in May after a decade as a drama commissioner.

Charlotte Moore, BBC’s Chief Content Officer says: “Piers Wenger has been an outstanding Director of Drama over the last six years at the BBC. Under his inspirational leadership, BBC Drama has flourished and at a time of intense competition, he has cemented the BBC’s reputation as the home of creative risk taking and the most original, fearless and ambitious British storytelling. Piers is an exceptional creative with a huge regard for public service, an eye for both the popular and the profound and an appetite for complexity and provocation. His vision has delivered a scope and scale that’s truly unique to the BBC and he’s been responsible for commissioning a slate that’s both genre busting and celebrates British authorship, identity and life in all its most diverse forms.

“Achieving huge success on a national and global stage, Piers has commissioned a remarkable range of critically acclaimed and award winning hit shows including The Tourist, The Responder, This is Going to Hurt, The Serpent, A Very British Scandal, His Dark Materials, Time, A Very English Scandal, Bodyguard, Gentleman Jack, Vigil, The Salisbury Poisonings, I May Destroy You and Normal People. He has worked with the very best established and emerging writers and has always striven to give talent the creative freedom to experiment and to produce bold and innovative ideas. He is a champion of authorship, authenticity and originality and he’s passionate about discovering new voices. During his tenure, BBC Drama has worked with more first time screenwriters from across the UK than ever before.

“I will miss Piers hugely – his generosity, his creative curiosity and his dedication to excellence – he has been a joy to work with. But he leaves BBC Drama in exceptional form and I know the incredibly talented and committed drama commissioning team will continue the great work.”

Piers Wenger says: “After a decade as a drama commissioner it is high time I gave someone else a go. The last six years working for Charlotte and the BBC have been more creatively challenging, more emboldening and more fun than anyone has the right to in the name of work. I am indebted to the BBC and the extraordinary range of writers, producers and directors it has been my privilege to work alongside. There are mountains to climb everywhere but I predict a magical time ahead for BBC Drama as the next generation of thinkers and taste-makers step up to shape its future. I want to pay tribute to the colossal talents of the team in place and I will be watching with pride and awe as they start the process of carving out a fresh vision.”

Ben Irving will take on the role of Acting Director of BBC Drama until an appointment is made.

Director of Film, Rose Garnett is also departing. Her commissions include The Souvenir 1 & 2, Blue Story, Small Axe, The Nest, The Power of The Dog, Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always, Can’t Get You Out of My Head, Judy, After Love, Ali & Ava Cow, and People Just Do Nothing – Big in Japan.

Both will join A24, the company behind Uncut Gems, Midsommar, Lady Bird, Moonlight, Ramy, Euphoria & more.

2 Responses

  1. Buy up the rights so you can control product to literature, popular fiction or history, and then changing key parts to suit a political agenda is always going to annoy fans and achieve little. Better of to write a new story, or an adaption that is significantly distant from the original. Doing it to an SF show whose fans have been obsessing and recording every detail for 60 years is fairly obliviously going to cause a backlash. Giving Chibnal only a few soap opera writers, some soap opera actors from a diversity list including a pensioner game show host, to try and make it work was doomed to failure. The BBC and ITV both passed on All Creatures Great And Small because the producers wanted to do a straight adaption of historical based popular fiction. You have to use common sense and understand what story you want to tell and how to best tell it.

  2. The BBC have had their share of critics, most notably for revising iconic shows like Dr.Who which has featured its share of diversity in recent years, diversity that has not pleased the older fans, fans who know the 60’s characters and stories and probably buy the most ‘Who’ merchandise. The BBC have a Diversity and Inclusion plan which is hoped will set the industrial standard for inclusion and workplace diversity, the debatable part is whether this plan should also apply to every single drama production or TV show the BBC makes, especially historical or period drama shows. Even in some contemporary scenarios fiction role models are not always strong female characters (for example), some rationality must be used in developing diversity and inclusion into screenplays.

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