BBC Studios branches into deal with Jeremy Lee, Mobeen Azhar’s Forest

Jeremy Lee and Mobeen Azhar

BBC Studios (BBCS) has agreed an exclusive three-year development deal with UK indie Forest, led by executive producer Jeremy Lee and journalist and filmmaker Mobeen Azhar.

BBCS will support four-year-old Forest’s growth in return for a first-look distribution deal covering any content produced by Forest during the term of the agreement. The company is active in premium documentary, original investigative series and popular factual.

Forest’s credits include The Battle for Britney, The Trouble with Kanye, Santa Claus the Serial Killer and the BBC Two docuseries Streets of Gold: Mumbai.

The BBCS factual portfolio includes wholly owned prodco Voltage and content partnership deals with indies Rogan and Zinc Media, as well as its internal factual production units known for their natural history, documentary, science, history and arts series.

“BBC Studios feel like the obvious partner to help us deliver the next wave of Forest projects to a worldwide audience,” said Lee, who is creative director and co-founder of Forest.

Kate Ward, MD of factual productions at BBCS, added: “Forest’s work and ambition represents a new wave of exciting factual television. We have long been admirers of their fearless, impactful and contemporary documentaries.”