Kudos replaces chief exec with duo

Broadchurch producer Kudos has appointed two joint chief executives to replace Jane Featherstone, who is leaving the firm in May.

Diederick Santer, MD and founder of Kudos label Lovely Day, and Dan Isaacs, currently chief operating officer at Kudos, will fill the role for the UK prodco, working together with Featherstone for the handover.

Featherstone announced she was leaving Kudos’s newly formed parent Endemic Shine Group last month but will remain executive producer on a number of forthcoming projects. She will then take a break for the rest of the year.

Santer takes up the role having been MD at Lovely Day, the label he established with Kudos in 2010 and which was most recently responsible for ITV hit series Grantchester – a second series of which goes into production later this year.

Isaacs, who joined Kudos in 2003, steps up from his COO role, a position he had held since 2011.

The new structure will see Santer lead the creative side of the business while Isaacs focuses on the commercial aspect.

Tim Hincks, president of Endemol Shine Group, said: “Diederick and Dan both know implicitly what makes Kudos tick and what it stands for.”