BBC Content Chief Latest: Race To Replace Charlotte Moore Nears Final Two, As Zai Bennett Drops Out & New Candidates Emerge
Before then, we are told there are around five to six candidates in the mix. Two of those are believed to be frontrunner Kate Phillips and BBC iPlayer and channels boss Dan McGolpin. Another pair are understood to be Nat Geo's Tom McDonald and a new name, David Brindley, the Chief Creative Officer of Destination X producer Twofour. There is thought to be at least one other dark horse candidate, possibly two. The BBC declined to comment.
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One person we can reveal is no longer in the running is BBC Studios productions boss Zai Bennett, who becomes the latest to exit from what has been a twisty-turny race to replace BBC content supremo Moore – who has exited to join Sony.
Previously deemed a frontrunner, Bennett has always been positioned as a strong candidate but has just got his feet under the table at BBC Studios, initiating a major restructure in the past few weeks and bringing in several new lieutenants. He is the latest big name to exit the race, following the likes of Banijay UK boss Patrick Holland, Netflix's Anne Mensah and Apple TV+ executive Jay Hunt.
In around a week to 10 days' time, Deadline understands the remaining candidates will be whittled down to two, at which point they will be grilled in front of an interview panel of senior BBC executives, likely including Director General Tim Davie.
Unscripted supremo Phillips remains the one to beat, with BBC insiders and highly-regarded producers pulling for her to get the job. A Netflix-shaped spanner was thrown in the works earlier this week with a report in UK TV trade Broadcast that said she is being wooed by the streamer. Deadline revealed the exit of Netflix unscripted head Ben Kelly several weeks back. Netflix UK is on quite the tear and the Broadcast article dropped on the day the SVoD poached Channel 4's film and TV drama boss Ollie Madden.
McGolpin is no less senior than Phillips but Phillips has the programme-making chops and has been acting up in Moore's place over the past few months.
McDonald and Brindley are old friends from BBC commissioning, where they successfully ran the specialist factual and factual entertainment departments respectively for several years. The highly-rated McDonald has been touted as a possible Moore replacement since the contest began. He has handy experience working in the States as Disney-owned Nat Geo's EVP Global Factual & Unscripted and has worked with huge stars including David Attenborough and Idris Elba. He is known, however, to have built a life in America and is happy in his current role.
Twofour's Brindley is thought to be one of the other contenders. He has been overseeing a successful period for the ITV Studios-owned indie that has included landing the £20M ($27M) contract to make Destination X for the BBC and NBC, new BBC reality franchise I Kissed a Boy/Girl and a historic third series for Apple TV+ doc The Reluctant Traveler. As with McDonald, Brindley is thought to be happy in his current employ.
Notably, Phillips, McDonald and Brindley skew heavily unscripted, leaving the feeling that there could still be a big name from the drama world to emerge.
Led by search firms Grace Blue and Ibison, the process is moving quickly, with the BBC appearing keen to have a name in place after Moore left the building last week. Moore will become CEO of The Crown producer Left Bank Pictures and creative director of international production at Sony Pictures Television.
Stay tuned for more.
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