BBC Studios Invests in ‘Love Island’ and ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ Executive’s New Company, Mettlemouse Entertainment

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International When David Bowie died in 2016, panicked broadcasters ripped up their schedules and clambered to assemble heartfelt tributes to the “Space Oddity” singer. Later that year, when George Michael succumbed to heart failure on Christmas Day, BBC Four dedicated an entire night of programming to him — no easy feat around the holidays, when pre-commissioned programs are revealed months in advance in a race for ratings. Sinéad O’Connor’s death at 56 shocked the world on Wednesday, and was on the front page of virtually every paper in the U.K.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International The production company behind Netflix drama “The Playlist,” about the creation of music streaming business Spotify, is shutting down after six years. The London-headquartered YellowBird U.K. was set up in 2017 as the British sister company to Stockholm-based “Wallander” producers YellowBird Sweden.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International In August 1971, more than 100,000 football fans packed Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium for a historic tournament. Teams from England, France, Denmark, Argentina and Italy flew in for 21 days of matches alongside Mexico’s national team, while eager sponsors lined up for a piece of the action.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International “Scream” star Neve Campbell has boarded the Toronto Film Festival-bound documentary “Swan Song,” about the National Ballet of Canada, as an executive producer. Campbell, who is Canadian, is expected to attend Toronto in support of the film, which follows the ballet company as it mounts a new production of “Swan Lake” directed by ballet icon Karen Kain on the eve of her retirement. The documentary will screen as part of the festival’s Special Presentations program.

has been wearing almost exclusively sheer garments all summer long, and this past weekend was no exception. On Friday, July 21, was spotted on the streets of New York City wearing a on her way out to dinner. Despite 90% humidity and a scorching temperature in the 90s, EmRata wore the long-sleeve number (though, presumably, she got great ventilation).

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Decades before Christopher Nolan set his sights on a movie about J. Robert Oppenheimer, a science-obsessed BBC executive ventured to America in 1979 to make a $1.5 million TV show about the father of the atom bomb. Peter Goodchild began his career at the BBC in radio drama, but eventually migrated to the storied “Horizon” science unit to put his chemistry degree to some use. The division began experimenting with factual dramas in the 1970s, and after delivering a hit series on French-Polish physicist Marie Curie, Goodchild set his sights on the New York-born Oppenheimer. “I’d seen a play on J. Robert Oppenheimer at the Hampstead Theatre Club way back in 1966,” the 83-year-old tells Variety from his home in Exeter, southwest England, where his Zoom background reveals a room teeming with books on heaving shelves.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Former Meta executive and BAFTA Film Committee chair Anna Higgs has joined U.K. theater, film and television agency Casarotto Ramsay & Associates as managing director. Higgs, who will begin her role in August, will be entrusted by the Casarotto board to oversee the business and drive the strategic development and direction of the org. Founded in 1989 and based in London, the independent global agency represents many top writers, directors, playwrights, theater creatives, literary properties and heads of departments in film, theater, TV and new media.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International U.K. actors union Equity has planned rallies in London and Manchester to support the SAG-AFTRA strike. The org revealed on Tuesday that it will hold a demonstration in London’s Leicester Square and Manchester’s Media City at 12 p.m. on Friday (July 21). Speakers at the London rally will include Equity general secretary Paul W. Fleming, Equity president Lynda Rooke and MP John McDonnell. The events will also feature “speakers from the entertainment industry and trade union movement.” “In our sister union’s fight we stand in unwavering solidarity, and we will not allow the U.K. to become a back door to undermine the strike,” said Equity in a statement.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International When “World on Fire” premiered on the BBC in September 2019, no one could have known that the World War II drama would be one of the last major scripted debuts on the public broadcaster before the pandemic. The PBS Masterpiece co-production — which follows the interconnected lives of British and European families during the outbreak of war — confirmed it would return at the end of its Season 1 finale, but the onset of the COVID-19 crisis just four months later and its impact on global production made the prospect of setting up a continent-spanning war drama all the more unlikely. Yet with some heroic scheduling, rewritten scripts and clever location and CGI combos, Season 2 returned to British screens on Sunday after a four-year hiatus, premiering to an audience indelibly changed by a global and life-altering event of their own.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International A new documentary about Richard Williams, the father of tennis greats Serena and Venus Williams, has sold into major markets. “On the Line: The Richard Williams Story,” which had its U.K. premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest in June, has been sold into Sky (U.K. and Italy), Canal+ (France), MNET (South Africa), Paramount+ (Australia) and TVNZ (New Zealand). The film paints a complex portrait of the life, career and impact of Williams — the family patriarch and tennis coach to Venus and Serena Williams, who was also portrayed by Will Smith in the 2022 movie “King Richard.”

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International BAFTA has updated its campaigning rules for next year’s film awards, and is “having conversations internally” about reviewing its theatrical eligibility rules for 2025 following the Oscars’ expanded geographic criteria requirements. The British Academy revealed its new rules for the 2024 awards on Wednesday, with stricter regulations around campaigning — particularly in relation to social media — and a new bullying and harassment policy for U.K.-based productions. Speaking to Variety, BAFTA also revealed that it’s debating changes for the 2025 awards, for which the eligibility period begins in January.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC, has passed £2 billion ($2.7 billion) in sales and nudged up profits to £240 million, but an advertising downturn is hitting its channels and streaming business. The corporation unveiled its annual report for 2022/2023 on Tuesday amid an ongoing presenter scandal that’s kept the BBC in national headlines since July 6. A planned virtual briefing with top brass was largely taken up by questions about the BBC’s handling of a complaint against one of its presenters, who remains unnamed due to privacy concerns. While BBC Studios CEO Tom Fussell was meant to brief select press about the annual report, this was canceled due to the wider scandal, which saw director general Tim Davie take the brunt of questions from journalists.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International The U.K.’s Empire Cinemas has gone into administration with six movie theaters shuttering immediately, Variety can confirm. Empire operates 12 locations under the Empire brand and two Tivoli-branded cinemas in Bath and Cheltenham. The companies employ 437 people across England and Scotland. Around 150 staff — roughly a third of the company’s workforce — have been laid off as part of the administration process. BDO LLP have been appointed as administrators handling the case. So far, Empire cinemas have closed in Bishop’s Stortford, Catterick Garrison, Sunderland, Swindon, Walthamstow and Wigan. In addition, a site that was previously shuttered at Sutton Coldfield won’t reopen.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Jess Search, a titan of the documentary world and co-founder of the U.K.-headquartered Doc Society, is stepping away after 18 years following a brain tumor diagnosis. The executive revealed her condition in a newsletter post sent to members on Thursday. “Today I am sharing that I’m currently under the care of a neurosurgeon because like 300,000 others every year around the world, I’ve been diagnosed with a brain tumour,” Search wrote. “I’m stepping back from Doc Society — after 18 years of nonstop creative collaboration, dedicated craft, joyous partying and fierce camaraderie.”

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International The BBC’s head of creative diversity, Joanna Abeyie, is stepping down after less than a year and a half in the role, Variety can reveal. Abeyie is leaving the broadcaster to return to her consultancy business, Blue Moon, which specializes in diversity and inclusion, and executive recruitment. Variety understands that she may consult for the BBC in the future. Sources indicate that Abeyie’s departure was first announced by BBC director of content Charlotte Moore on June 22. Her last day in the role is Monday (July 3). When her exit was revealed to her team by the BBC’s group director of diversity and inclusion Chinny Okolidoh, it’s believed a number of staff protested why Abeyie, a well-liked exec with a strong rapport with the group, had been allowed to leave the public broadcaster. However, Variety understands that her departure reflects the exec’s choice to return to her business, which she set up in 2018.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International The U.K.’s media watchdog, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), has upheld two complaints lodged by women’s rights charities against Jeremy Clarkson’s December column in The Sun about Meghan Markle. Variety can reveal that after a months-long process, IPSO found that the “Grand Tour” host’s column breached Clause 12 of the regulator’s Editors’ Code of Practice, which relates to discrimination. The case marks the first time in its nine-year history that IPSO has upheld a complaint on the basis of sexism. As a result, The Sun has been instructed to publish a summary of the regulator’s findings in the spot where Clarkson’s column regularly appears in the print edition, and reference the decision on its front page and website homepage for 24 hours — something the tabloid hasn’t been forced to do since 2016, when its front-page “Queen Backs Brexit” splash was found to have breached press regulations.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Hillary Clinton’s HiddenLight Productions has partnered with Roger Ross Williams and “The Inspection” director Elegance Bratton on a feature documentary about 1979’s Disco Demolition Night in Chicago. Known as one of the darkest days in American music history, the incident saw 50,000 white teenagers descend on Chicago’s Comiskey Park to blow up records made by mostly Black artists. The doc, which is called “The Night Disco Died,” is a co-production between HiddenLight and One Story Up, and will be presented by Impact Partners and Los Angeles Media Fund (LAMF).

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International When the BBC revealed it was adapting hit British indie film “Boiling Point” into a TV show, it was applauded as one of the most forward-thinking orders made at the public broadcaster in years — demonstrating the kind of savvy seen at global streamers, which are always quick on the draw in commissioning adjacent programming for a hit title. This time, Britain’s public broadcaster had also capitalized on a local sensation. The four-time BAFTA-nominated “Boiling Point” centred on a stressed-out head chef, played by “Matilda” star Stephen Graham, who quickly loses the room in a fast-paced kitchen. The movie, which released in the U.K. in January 2022, used an anxiety-inducing one-shot technique for the entire feature, heightening the intensity of the frenzied kitchen scenes. It later drew comparisons to another claustrophobic kitchen drama, FX series “The Bear,” which premiered last summer.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Sky Deutschland, the German arm of Comcast-owned pay-TV operator Sky, is pulling out of scripted originals from 2024, Variety can reveal. Staff were notified of the surprise move by Sky Deutschland boss Devesh Raj on Thursday morning, local time. Variety understands that the entire scripted originals team will eventually be disbanded, though shows that have already been commissioned and are in production, such as post-apocalypse drama “Helgoland 513″ and “Das Boot” Season 4, will finish filming. Any projects in development will be “put into turnaround,” as per another internal note from Sky Studios CEO Cécile Frot-Coutaz, also seen by Variety.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Top editors are rallying behind Poland’s independent media as it comes under increased scrutiny from the country’s right-wing, nationalist government. In a joint statement, the editors in chief of local outlets such as Fakt, Polityka and Gazeta Radomszczańska as well as international media such as Forbes and Canal+, have said they “declare our unwavering dedication to stand firm and defend the independence of Polish journalism.” “Newsrooms under our leadership will exhibit solidarity and resolutely inform the public about any attempts by the ruling party to exert influence over the media,” reads the statement.