BBC Studios Productions is making major structural moves to capitalize on surging unscripted content demand, with CEO Zai Bennett revealing a significant reorganization.
Kate Ward (MD Factual) will head up a newly formed Unscripted Productions division that merges the company’s Factual, U.K. Entertainment and Entertainment Development operations. Ward, who has helmed the Factual division since 2023, will serve as MD Unscripted Productions, leveraging her experience overseeing hits like NBC Universal’s “The Americas,” BBC’s upcoming “Walking with Dinosaurs” revival, and Nat Geo’s “Tucci in Italy.”
“BBC Studios Unscripted Productions brings together an extraordinary creative portfolio, led by a world class group of creatives with unrivalled expertise across the breadth of the unscripted genre,” Ward said. The consolidated division encompasses the Natural History Unit, Science Unit, Specialist Factual Productions, Documentary Unit, and BBC Studios U.K. Entertainment, along with labels including Voltage TV, Mothership TV, Samphire Films and Mettlemouse Entertainment.
Suzy Lamb (MD Entertainment U.K.) and Karl Warner (executive VP U.K. Ents and Digital Development) will continue spearheading format and franchise development, reporting directly to Bennett while collaborating with Ward on overall entertainment strategy. Lamb’s team currently produces over 1,000 hours annually, including international hits “Strictly Come Dancing,” “The One Show,” “Glastonbury,” “The Weakest Link” and “Dragons’ Den.”
Simultaneously, Bennett is doubling down on global ambitions, creating a standalone Global Production unit headed by Matt Forde as president, Global Production. Forde, who has already engineered BBC Studios’ international expansion through acquisitions like STV (Nordics), Brutal (Spain) and Werner (Australia), will accelerate the company’s production activity outside the U.K., building on format success stories like “The 1% Club,” “Ghosts,” and “The Honesty Box.”
“There’s been an increased demand for unscripted programming in our customers’ content strategies,” Bennett noted. “A single Unscripted business gives us an incredibly potent offering for the market – and it’s the right moment to significantly increase our international production footprint.”
Forde added: “We’ve seen rapid growth over the last three years internationally and increasing the number of markets BBC Studios operates in is vital if we’re to leverage a truly global creative network and produce even more format hits – as well as creating original content for local audiences across the world.”
The organizational restructuring takes effect immediately as part of BBC Studios’ five-year growth strategy targeting international markets.
