Piers Wenger
Piers Wenger is a British television executive who serves as controller of BBC drama commissioning.
Early life[]
Wenger was born Piers John Wenger in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England on 29 June 1972.
Career[]
Wenger was appointed as controller of BBC drama commissioning in 2016,[1] after four years as head of drama at Channel 4. Prior to Channel 4, he was head of drama at BBC Wales and an executive producer on Doctor Who. As a producer, he closely collaborated with Victoria Wood over a decade on her dramatic projects. He produced her BAFTA and RTS award-winning dramatization of Nella Last's diary Housewife, 49, collaborated with her on Loving Miss Hatto, Wood's dramatization of the life of classical pianist Joyce Hatto and co-executive produced Eric and Ernie, Peter Bowker's biopic of the young Morecambe and Wise in which Wood also starred.
In his time at Channel 4, he managed a number of popular dramas. In February 2015, Indian Summers, a period drama chronicling the last years of British imperial rule in India launched and recorded the highest overnight drama audience for a Channel 4 drama in 20 years.[2] No Offence, Paul Abbott's anarchic police procedural, launched strongly later in the same year and won the Royal Television Society Award for best drama series. Humans, Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley's sci-fi series, a co-production with AMC, became a significant ratings hit, breaking the record set by Indian Summers earlier in the year.[citation needed]
In his first stint at the BBC, he was responsible for commissioning Tom Stoppard's Parade's End and Kevin Elyot's dramatization of the life of Christopher Isherwood, Christopher and His Kind.
Credits[]
Producer
- Housewife, 49 (2006)
- Ballet Shoes (2007)
Executive Producer
- The Sarah Jane Adventures (2009)
- Doctor Who (2010–2011)
- Upstairs, Downstairs (2010)
- Eric and Ernie (2011)
References[]
- ^ Barraclough, Leo (28 June 2016). "BBC Appoints Piers Wenger as Drama Chief". Retrieved 16 July 2017.
- ^ "Indian Summers becomes C4's biggest drama in 20 years". BroadcastNow.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
External links[]
- Piers Wenger at IMDb
- Lonely hearts, The Observer, 13 February 2005
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