BBC hires Disney alum to lead kids in-house drama production

Tali Walters

The UK’s BBC has hired former Disney exec Tali Walters to oversee its in-house children’s drama production.

Walters was most recently working at YouTube overseeing various kids projects and before that spent almost a decade at the Mouse House, where she worked on shows including Violetta.

She will report into BBC Children’s head of production, Helen Bullough, and replaces Lucy Allan, whose exit from the broadcaster was revealed last year. She is joining UK-based Lime Pictures as head of continuing drama and exec producer of Channel 4’s young adult scripted series Hollyoaks.

The rejig is the latest reshuffle at BBC Children’s after head of content Cheryl Taylor revealed late last year she would be leaving the UK pubcaster after 15 years with the corporation.

Patricia Hidalgo, meanwhile, joined as the BBC’s director of Children’s & Education, having moved from WarnerMedia.

The BBC has also tweaked the remits of its senior execs, combining commissioning with acquisitions in changes that will see Sarah Muller overseeing programming for kids aged 7-12. An exec to helm shows for those aged 0-6 is yet to be announced.