Zodiak Rights poaches BBCWW drama chief

Zodiak Rights has hired BBC Worldwide’s head of drama Chris Stewart.

He will take on the new post of head of scripted acquisitions in December, reporting to Caroline Torrance, who also joined Zodiak’s rights division from the BBC’s commercial arm 12 months ago.

Zodiak Rights and parent Zodiak Media have been making a concerted push into drama under Torrance, with a strategy in place to boost sales and development of in-house and third-party drama and comedy.

Stewart has been at BBCWW for the past three years overseeing third-party acquisitions and in-house dramas such as Doctor Who, The Muskateers and Da Vinci’s Demons.

Before that he was a commissioner at 2entertain Video, the BBCWW and Woolworths Group JV that sold home entertainment rights BBC in-house fiction programming and is now integrated into BBCWW’s consumer products division.

“I am delighted to be bringing Chris on board,” said Torrance. “With his previous experience in high-end international drama productions he will be an invaluable asset to us and producers we represent as we continue to bring quality scripted programming from around the world to the international marketplace.”

Zodiak’s current dramas include TV2/Arte coproduction Occupied, which launched at MIPCOM. Other in-house properties include Millennium, Wallander, Being Human, The Inbetweeners and Solsidan.

Zodiak Rights also sells third-party dramas such as Braquo, The Returned and The Pinkertons.