BBC Studios Productions has restructured its scripted business, adding a Fiction pillar to sit alongside its Comedy and Drama businesses.
BBCS comedy head Josh Cole is to head up both BBCS Comedy and new unit BBCS Fiction in his new role as chief creative officer of fiction and comedy.
Scripted label River Pictures, which made true-crime drama Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story, will now be closed, with its heads Michael Parke and Andrew Morrissey becoming creative directors of BBCS Fiction.
BBCS director of production for drama Siân O’Callaghan will also become director of production for the two labels and will oversee the strategic and business planning of all non-label scripted productions.
Shows under the two labels’ remit include BBC1 comedy-drama Death Valley [main picture] and sitcom Black Ops, Apple TV+ comedy Trying and Channel 4’s upcoming Break Clause.
Cole said: “Building BBC Studios Comedy into a home for brilliant, genre-defining voices has been a joy, and now, creating BBC Studios Fiction and joining forces with Michael and Andrew means we can take that ambition and spirit to new creative horizons.”
BBCS Fiction will operate out of London, Liverpool and Glasgow, sitting alongside BBC Studios Drama and scripted labels Clerkenwell Films, Firebird Pictures, Sid Gentle Films, Lookout Point, House Productions and Baby Cow.
