Thursday round-up: Latest news, deals & hires

UK’s CDN appoints UKTV exec

Creative Diversity Network (CDN), the organisation leading efforts to increase diversity on and off screen within the UK’s television industry, has named Richard Watsham as its chair.

Watsham, chief creative officer for UKTV & global director of acquisitions at BBC Studios/UKTV, succeeds Paul Moore, ITV’s group communications and corporate affairs director, who took up the role in January 2021, and remains as a CDN board member.

Watsham said: “At a time when there is debate around the value of programmes of work that enhance diversity and equality, CDN’s role in bringing together partners across the UK television industry is more important than ever.

“We must work together to foster inclusivity, deduplicate our activities and open our businesses up to the widest possible pool of creative talent. Reflecting the lives and stories of viewers is the best way to ensure we continue to create commercially successful shows which engage, entertain and inform audiences in the UK and worldwide.”

BBC Studios expands FAST

BBC Studios and LG have linked up to launch six BBC Studios’ FAST channels on LG across Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Nordics and the Netherlands from March 2025.

BBC FAST brands available include: Top Gear (available on LG TVs in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Nordics and the Netherlands); BBC History (available on LG TVs in Germany); BBC Food (available on LG TVs in Germany); BBC Travel (available on LG TVs in Germany); BBC Drama (available on LG TVs in France, Italy and Spain); and Doctor Who (available on LG TVs in France, Italy and Spain).

Kasia Jablonska, director of digital and on-demand for EMEA at BBC Studios, said she as “proud to be partnering with LG for the first time to expand the reach of our six FAST channel brands in EMEA.”

Studio Lambert options novel about infamous Dr Crippen murder

Studio Lambert has acquired the rights to adapt Hallie Rubenhold’s upcoming non-fiction novel about notorious killer Dr Crippen’s murder of his wife.

Story of A Murder: The Wives, the Mistress and Dr Crippen will be adapted for the screen by Amanda Coe, whose credits include Black Narcissus (FX), Apple Tree Yard (BBC1) and Room at the Top (BBC4).

When the mutilated remains of vivacious music hall performer Corinne ‘Cora’ Turner – who was known by her stage name Belle Elmore – were discovered in a North London cellar, it triggered a global media frenzy. It led to a high-energy transatlantic manhunt for her husband, Dr Hawley Crippen, and his young lover Ethel le Neve, who was posing as his son.