BBC Studios has launched a pair of scripted labels spanning ‘boutique’ authored pieces and mainstream returning titles.
Big Talk creative director of drama Jenny van der Lande is heading up Bristol-based Landed Productions, where she will work closely with writers to hone their ideas.
Meanwhile, CliffEdge Entertainment will focus on crime, mystery, thriller and precinct-based titles and is the new home for established BBCS returners such as Silent Witness, Father Brown and Shakespeare and Hathaway alongside new titles such as Channel 4 thriller The Night They Vanished [main picture] and BBC/Britbox title The Detection Club.
Current BBCS drama productions senior creative director Deborah Sathe has been named chief creative officer of CliffEdge.
The pair join fellow BBC Studios Scripted labels including Lookout Point, Baby Cow, Firebird Pictures, House Productions, Sid Gentle Films Ltd and Clerkenwell Films.
Bristol-born van der Lande has previously worked for drama indies Brontë and Snowed‑In and worked on BBC dramas such as Strike, Mrs Wilson, The Midwich Cuckoos and You Don’t Know Me.
“I’ve been developing TV drama for a long time but there’s still nothing that makes me happier than the moment a brilliant writer shares a new idea,” she said.
“I can’t quite believe my luck that I’ve been offered the chance to return to the BBC - where I trained - to develop the next generation of dramas from writers I adore. It feels like a homecoming, and I can’t wait to build a creative space for world‑class British talent to develop their most honest work away from the noise.”
BBC Studios scripted managing director Jamie Hall praised her “creative sensibility, editorial judgement, and ability to deliver outstanding drama with great writers”.
Van der Lande will join BBC Studios in January 2027.
Sathe said that CliffEdge was “the perfect playground” to make “ambitious, entertaining, character driven drama that can connect with audiences around the world”.
Hall called Sathe “a dynamic, entrepreneurial leader with fantastic taste”.
