BBC TV boss Danny Cohen quits

Cohen has said that he is now looking at a number of options within the UK and in the US

Danny Cohen has been identified as potential future Director-General of the BBC (PA)

The BBC lost its Director of Television, Danny Cohen, who has quit after eight years in senior roles at the corporation and is considering offers of a career in America.

Mr Cohen, 41, who has been identified as a potential future Director-General, told The Independent he was looking at a range of options with television and digital media businesses situated in the UK and the US.

His departure is a blow to the BBC at a critical time in its negotiation with the Government on its future. “I think people will try and read BBC internal complex things into it but it’s really straightforward – I have had a wonderful time here for eight years and I’m just ready for the next thing,” he said.

He is understood to have been concerned at the possibility that leaks of his ongoing private discussions with other media organisations would be damaging to him and the BBC. He felt uncomfortable participating in big decisions on the BBC’s future having decided to leave, senior sources at the organisation said.

Danny Cohen

It was Cohen who persuaded JK Rowling to allow the BBC to adapt The Casual Vacancy for the BBC rather than for American television or cinema. He has also presided over an extraordinary breadth of output in BBC drama, with period productions ranging from Wolf Hall (Tudor) to Call The Midwife (1950s London) and contemporary hits including Happy Valley and New Zealand-based Top of the Lake. He has been instrumental in the success of entertainment stars including James Corden and Adil Ray (Citizen Khan) and made a point of saying the BBC should not have “panel shows on any more with no women on them”. The announcement of his departure comes days after BBC Television enjoyed a high with the final of The Great British Bake Off attracting 15 million viewers and the culmination of hit drama Doctor Foster drawing an audience of 8 million the same evening.

Cohen has led the BBC’s controversial decision to make the youth-orientated channel BBC3 an online-only service and create a production powerhouse in BBC Studios. He said he hoped that strategy would be seen through. “I think the BBC needs to keep disrupting itself with the things it does, things like BBC Studios and BBC3, they are controversial but I truly believe that for big media companies to survive in this age you’ve got to disrupt yourselves.”

James Corden, one of the presenting stars of Cohen’s time at the helm of BBC TV, praised him as a “fantastic creative mind” and said “I’m excited to see what he does next”.

As Director of Television, Cohen has responsibility for the four BBC television channels and a £1.5bn annual budget. He is regarded as a close ally of the Director-General Lord Hall and the BBC’s Creative Director Alan Yentob. One BBC source said that Cohen, more than some other senior executives, had been “willing to get out there and fight for the BBC”.

Cohen is “one of TV’s great talents,” said Lord Hall, paying particular tribute to the Director of Television’s record in drama. “Danny has led the incredible resurgence of drama on the BBC, having commissioned or overseen shows like Happy Valley, Poldark, Last Tango in Halifax, Wolf Hall, Top of the Lake, Peaky Blinders, Doctor Who and the forthcoming Dickensian and War and Peace.”

Cohen said he had turned down an offer from an American company in the summer because “it just wasn’t the right thing for me”. Since then he has had other offers. “I thought it was much cleaner and fairer to my teams to say ‘I know I’m going, I am going to go away and think about these offers’,” he said. “I think it’s quite unsettling for your staff if they are wondering whether you are going or staying.”

His first role at the BBC was as head of BBC3, later becoming the youngest ever controller of BBC1 at the age of 36. “I didn’t think I would stay eight years in one place but I’ve been lucky to have some really interesting jobs here.”

He arrived at the BBC from Channel 4, where he was head of the E4 channel and in charge of Channel 4 documentaries. Mark Linsey, the BBC’s Controller of Entertainment Commissioning, will take on Cohen’s responsibilities until Lord Hall appoints a permanent successor.

Cohen said he also has to consider the career of his wife, an economist. “I’m open-minded,” he said. “I’m going to think about television, and the entertainment business more generally, and there are some interesting things going on in digital media at the moment.”