Executives from Balloon Entertainment and The Forge, as well as the producer of Silent Witness, have joined the BBC's drama team in senior roles.
Balloon's development executive for script television Danielle Scott-Haughton has left the indie after seven years to take up a BBC commissioning editor role.
Scott-Haughton is executive producer on upcoming BBC1 musical drama series Champion and also set up Balloon's diverse writers initiative in collaboration with ScreenSkills.
BBC drama director Lindsay Salt hailed Scott-Haughton's "infectious" love for TV drama, describing her as "a true taste-maker and collaborator."
Leading on Northern Ireland commissions is Nick Lambon, who has script edited Doctor Who and ITV's DCI Banks, was assistant producer on series one of ITV's Sanditon, script producer and producer of Silent Witness and is producer on the upcoming second series of Channel 4 prison drama Screw.
Salt said Lambon's work on "a wonderful variety of dramas" suggested he would thrive with BBC drama's "broad canvas of possibility".
Finally, head of development Sami El-Hadi joins the BBC from The Forge, where he was development executive. He was previously script executive at Working Title, across BBC1's Everything I Know About Love and Channel 4 comedy We Are Lady Parts.
“Sami has cut his creative teeth on genre-defining shows," said Salt. "His natural forward-thinking instinct, thoughtful manner and excellent taste makes him a great new asset for our top team.”
Scott-Haughton and El-Hadi have recently started in their roles. Nick will join the BBC in the coming months.
