BBC raids Voltage, Indus for factual

Executives from UK prodcos Voltage TV, Indus Films and Nine Lives Media are joining the BBC as part of Patrick Holland’s documentary commissioning team.

Voltage TV’s Danny Horan and Indus creative director Jamie Balment join as commissioning editors, working across the four main BBC channels.

Horan has been behind shows including Posh People: Inside Tatler for BBC2 and 100% British for Channel 5, while Balment, who was previously the BBC’s head of development for documentaries, has worked on Hunters of the South Seas for BBC2 and Channel 4’s The World’s Most Expensive Food.

They will join existing commissioners Maxine Watson and Clare Patterson, as well as Clare Sillery, from September 1. Sillery has been promoted to the team on a full-time basis following work on shows including Minnow Films’ BBC2 show The Detectives.

The commissioning division reports to Holland, the pubcaster’s head of commissioning for documentaries and BBC3, who was appointed in May to replace Emma Willis as part of a wider factual revamp at the broadcaster.

Meanwhile, Nine Lives head of development Asif Hasan has been named a commissioning executive as part of the Commissioner Development Programme, which aims to increase the diversity of talent at commissioning level within the BBC.

Asif has been behind shows including the BBC’s Pound Shop Wars and The Anti-Social Network for BBC3.