BBC Studios Productions has appointed Josh Cole as Head of Comedy. Cole will be responsible for leading the BBC Studios Comedy team and overseeing its current comedy slate across TV, radio and online, including the BAFTA award-winning This Country, Famalam and Inside No.9. He will also have responsibility for the development of new, returnable comedy shows, working with the best emerging and established creative talent from around the UK.
Cole joins BBC Studios from Sky, where he has been Commissioning Editor since 2017, commissioning and executive producing a range of original scripted comedies for Sky One, Sky Atlantic and Sky Arts. His recent credits include this year’s BAFTA-award-winning Sally4Ever from Julia Davis for Sky Atlantic and HBO, Breeders starring Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard for Sky One and FX, The Trip To Greece starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, and Two Weeks To Live with Maisie Williams.
Prior to joining Sky, Cole spent five years with Big Talk Productions, where he produced titles including Crashing, written by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge, for Channel 4 and Netflix, the RTS award-winning Timewasters for ITV2, Cockroaches starring Jack Whitehall for ITV2 and We The Jury for BBC Two. Previously he held roles at Roughcut TV and the BBC.
Ralph Lee, Director of Content, BBC Studios said: “Josh is an incredible talent with a brilliant future ahead of him and we’re delighted he is joining BBC Studios. We are very proud of both our comedy heritage and of our recent hits – such as the multi-award-winning This Country and Famalam and I can’t wait to see what new comedy gold will be discovered under his creative leadership.”
Josh Cole said: “I began my career at the BBC, and was lucky enough to sneak in and watch Armando Iannucci shooting The Thick Of It on my first day, so to be joining BBC Studios with their history of iconic shows is hugely exciting. We will work to produce more home-grown, boundary-breaking shows for the global market, from the best creators in the UK and beyond. I can’t wait to get started.”
BBC Studios Productions is the biggest producer of scripted comedy in the UK and the unit has a remarkable heritage, having made some of the world’s most watched and cherished comedies, including Only Fools and Horses, Miranda, The Office, The Thick Of It, Mrs Brown’s Boys,Tracey Ullman’s Show and WIA.
BBC Studios Productions also produced the new global comedy drama series Good Omens for Amazon Prime, based on the novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman and other new comedies such as Derren Litten’s Scarborough, Mr Winner and Muzlamic which are coming soon.
BBC Studios Productions Radio Comedy team make a wide range of award-winning comedy and entertainment shows and podcasts including Radio 4’s The News Quiz, Just a Minute and Newsjack giving many writers and performers their first broadcast experience.
Josh Cole will take up his new role later this year.
