BBC Studios takes full ownership of Sid Gentle Films, relocates Mark Linsey

Sid Gentle Films’ multi-award-winning drama Killing Eve

MIPCOM: BBC Studios, the BBC’s commercial production and distribution arm, has taken full ownership of Killing Eve producer Sid Gentle Films.

Founded in 2013 by Sally Woodward Gentle, with Lee Morris and Henrietta Colvin, Sid Gentle Films sold a 51% stake in the business to BBC Studios in 2018.

Its productions include The Durrells for ITV, SS-GB for BBC One, Ragdoll for UKTV and AMC, Neil Gaiman’s Likely Stories for Sky Arts and four seasons of Killing Eve.

Tom Fussell

BBC Studios announced it had taken full ownership of the company here in Cannes on the first day of Mipcom as part of its ambition to grow its portfolio of UK scripted labels.

It already wholly owns Lookout Point (Gentleman Jack, Happy Valley 3), Clerkenwell Films (Somewhere Boy, The End of the F***ing World) and House Productions (Sherwood, Brexit: An Uncivil War) and is the controlling shareholder in Baby Cow (Chivalry, The Witchfinder).

Earlier this month BBC Studios moved to 100% ownership of Firebird Pictures, which is in production on Wilderness for Amazon Studios and Wahala for BBC One.

Speaking during BBC Studios’ keynote session at Mipcom this morning, Tom Fussell, BBC Studios’ CEO, said: “I’m delighted to announce the full acquisition of Sid Gentle Films. Led by Sally Woodward Gentle and Lee Morris, Sid Gentle is home to unmissable returning hits. Best known for Bafta-, Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning Killing Eve, the future slate is just as exciting.”

In addition, BBC Studios used its session today to announce that Mark Linsey, its most senior scripted executive, will relocate from London to work out of Los Angeles.

The company says the aim is to place him geographically closer to key global content decision makers as BBC Studios seeks to build further coproduction, investment and commissioning opportunities for its scripted offering.

Linsey will retain his existing responsibilities and reports, and continue to report to BBC Studios Productions CEO Ralph Lee. He will work with both Janet Brown, BBC Studios’ newly appointed president of content distribution for North America and Latin America, and Valerie Bruce, general manager and leader of BBC Studios’ Los Angeles Productions.

As MD of scripted for BBC Studios, Linsey leads a drama and comedy group spanning premium labels and established production units BBC Studios Comedy Productions, maker of Good Omens for Amazon Studios, Trying for AppleTV+ and Inside No. 9 for the BBC; BBC Studios Drama Productions, producer of BBC returning series Time, Doctor Who and Silent Witness; and BBC Studios Continuing Drama, the unit behind long-running BBC series EastEnders, Casualty and Father Brown.