Karl Warner Resurfaces At BBC Studios After Channel 4 Exit

Jesse Whittock
·3-min read

Karl Warner, the former Channel 4 digital exec, has joined BBC Studios as Executive Vice President of UK Entertainment and Digital Development.

Working with the recently formed BBC Studios Global Entertainment division will form a new team focused on creating new IP and formats for the BBC as well as other UK and global platforms.

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He will also work with Global Entertainment teams around the world, especially in the U.S., to reimagine international ideas for the UK market. These would then be produced by the new BBC Studios Entertainment division led by MD for UK Entertainment Suzy Lamb.

A third prong to his role will see him seek to help create new labels and support existing BBC Studios companies such as the recently launched Rebel Rebel Pictures.

The role begins in November.

The move marks a return back to the BBC, where he was previously a commissioning editor. Warner exited his previous role as Head of Youth and Digital at UK network Channel 4 as part of a series of cuts earlier this year. We first reported on his expected exit in February and the confirmation followed a month later. Caroline Hollick, Channel 4’s former drama chief, resurfaced in a new UK role at The North Road Company last week.

In Warner’s new role at BBC Studios, he will report into Matt Forde, the Global Entertainment Managing Director.

Warner has worked in senior industry positions in the UK for the past 15 Yeats, holding his commissioning roles at the BBC and Channel 4 and running his own indie, Electric Ray, with backing from Sony Pictures Entertainment. Further back, he held roles at NBCUniversal-owned Monkey Kingdom and at Endemol, where he worked on Big Brother. While at the Beeb, he was part of the in-house team that developed Strictly Come Dancing‘s return in 2004

He had joined Channel 4 in 2018 as Controller of youth-skewing network E4 and oversaw the entertainment division, working on deals for the likes of Taskmaster and I Literally Just Told You. He also worked on current E4 hit Married at First Sight UK.

“I’m delighted that someone of Karl’s experience and inventiveness has joined BBC Studios to help us supercharge our ambitions,” said BBC Studios’ Forde. “Establishing a flexible hub of creative talent to develop UK hit shows across multiple platforms with an innovative, global, and future-looking approach for audiences has been a priority since setting up Global Entertainment. I can’t wait to see what he and the new team working across the UK and world create.”

Warner added: “After over a decade, I’m thrilled to be back at the BBC with a new global perspective and joining BBC Studios in a creative leadership role at such an exciting time. With its huge scale, rich catalogue of IP and second to none Talent relationships, I can’t think of a better place to be, creating new ideas that speak to the next generation of audiences, alongside Suzy and the amazing teams in the group.”

The news comes soon after Sky’s Zai Bennett was named as the new chief of BBC Studios Productions.

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