The BBC has raided Netflix UK to appoint Lindsay Salt as its director of drama.
Reporting to chief content officer Charlotte Moore, Salt will be responsible for leading the commissioning team and delivering distinctive drama content.
She joined Netflix in 2019 from Sky, following the same path as the streamer’s vice president of content Anne Mensah.
Her commissions at the SVoD giant include Baby Reindeer, One Day, The F*** It Bucket, Palomino and Half Bad. She also worked across shows including Heartstopper and series five of The Crown.
Prior to that, she spent three years as head of development at Sky Drama where she ran the development slate for Sky 1 and Sky Atlantic. She worked on titles including Urban Myth Films’ The Lazarus Project and Punchdrunk’s The Third Day.
Moore said Salt’s appointment “heralds an exciting new era for BBC Drama”.
“Lindsay has been responsible for an impressive breadth of shows and her track record as a commissioner underlines her passion for creating big hits and developing new and diverse voices.
“She’s an inspiring creative leader with a sophisticated understanding of British audience tastes which makes her perfectly placed to lead the genre into the future with work that will continue to push the boundaries and disrupt the mainstream.”
She added that Salt plans to evolve the creative strategy and build a slate that “feels especially relevant to audiences across the UK”.
Salt added her time at Netflix was “a total joy” but the opportunity was “too special to ignore.”
“BBC drama programming is revered around the globe,” she said. “What a privilege to build upon that legacy and find and nurture the storytelling that’ll lead us into the next pivotal phase of the BBC.”
Ben Irving will continue as acting director until Salt takes over in the autumn.
Prior to working at Sky, she spent eight years as indie Left Bank Pictures where she worked across a range of productions as a producer and script editor, including Sky’s Strike Back and BBC1’s Wallander.
This story first appeared on Screen’s sister site Broadcast
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