Sky names Silver drama commissioner

European pay TV broadcaster Sky has promoted Gabriel Silver to director of commissioning for drama in the UK.

Gabriel Silver

The move follows the news that director of drama Cameron Roach is set to leave the satcaster after seven years.

His planned departure has resulted in a restructure of the drama commissioning team, with the director of drama role being split into two. One exec will lead in-house development and production and the other will commission originals from third-party indie producers.

Silver, previously senior commissioning editor and executive producer at Sky Studios, has been upped to the commissioning role while an in-house creative director is being recruited. He takes up the new role with immediate effect, reporting to chief content officer Jane Millichip.

Most recently, Silver has overseen a slate of Sky Original dramas including Chernobyl and global hit Gangs of London, plus returning franchises Temple, Britannia and COBRA. He is currently exec producing forthcoming Sky Original dramas Extinction, starring Paapa Essiedu and The Baby, a coproduction between Sky and HBO.

Prior to joining Sky in 2017, Silver worked at a range of indies including as a development and executive producer at Left Bank Pictures and at Kudos where he script-edited seminal BBC series Spooks and Life on Mars. Silver also produced the first series of Clique for Balloon Entertainment/BBC Studios and developed crime drama Waking the Dead for the BBC.

In his new role, Silver is tasked with growing the slate of indie-commissioned drama projects for Sky Studios, Sky’s development and production arm across Europe. With a particular focus on commissioning content for Sky UK, Silver will work with Zai Bennett, MD of content at the satcaster, with projects jointly greenlit by both Sky Studios and Sky UK.

The appointment comes as Sky continues to double its investment in original content by 2024 and lays the foundations for Sky Studios Elstree, a dedicated state-of-the-art film and TV studio set to open in 2022.

Silver’s team includes commissioning editors Manpreet Dosanjh, Paul Gilbert and Liz Lewin. In addition to increasing its investment with indies, Sky Studios also plans to move further into in-house production following the success of RTS Award-winning Sky Original The Third Day, the first in-house production from Sky Studios.