The top of comedy on the BBC, Jon Petrie, is leaving after 5 years to hitch Hat Trick Productions.
Petrie has been liable for the likes of Small Prophets, Amandaland, Dreaming While Black and Such Courageous Ladies.
He’ll take up a Inventive Director function at Derry Ladies maker Hat Trick, which he referred to as a “uncommon and correctly thrilling alternative” on the “OG of the manufacturing neighborhood.”
Petrie will depart the BBC in August and Emma Lawson will step up as Interim Director of Comedy with instant impact. He joined the BBC from Charlie Brooker’s indie Broke and Bones and beforehand labored for Roughcut and Channel 4.
“Leaving the BBC after 5 good years is a big wrench. It’s a rare place, stuffed with wildly gifted, respectable and humorous individuals, and I really feel extremely fortunate to have labored below Kate Phillips’ management,” mentioned Petrie. “I grew up seeing that [Hat Trick] emblem on the finish of reveals I beloved, which is each thrilling and a reasonably brutal reminder of my age. Jimmy and the workforce have a genuinely forward-looking imaginative and prescient throughout scripted, quick kind and AI, and whereas I do know it’s a tough time to show from gamekeeper to poacher, I’ve missed manufacturing and I firmly consider British comedy nonetheless has large alternatives forward of it. I’m excited to assist construct what comes subsequent.”
Phillips, the BBC’s chief content material officer, mentioned Petrie has had a “large impression” and been “British comedy’s greatest backer by far.” “Jon’s imaginative and prescient and drive have delivered a outstanding variety of hit reveals, reflecting his dedication to giving authentic voices the area to take dangers,” she mentioned. “Below Jon’s management it’s been a terrific time for the style.”
Hat Trick founder Jimmy Mulville, who has labored with Petrie loads down the years, mentioned “Jon and Hat Trick each share the identical comedy DNA and we will’t wait to start out working with him.”
Petrie changed Shane Allen within the greatest job in British comedy commissioning in 2021 and has broadly been seen as steering the ship nicely in a tough period to make comedy.
His breakouts have included Small Prophets, Ludwig and Amandaland whereas reveals like Ghosts and Gavin & Stacey have hit new heights. Different hits embrace Black Ops, Demise Valley, Dreaming While Black, Such Courageous Ladies and We May Remorse This.
He has additionally shouted from the rooftops about British comedy needing extra backing, and has been one of many main voices calling for a comedy tax credit score.
He has had a populist contact to his commissioning. In 2024, he informed a room stuffed with comedy producers and press on the now-must attend BBC Comedy Competition that they need to find their “humorous bones” when pitching reveals to the BBC, which he deemed extra necessary than dramedies or “reveals which are ‘an exploration’ of one thing.”
Eventually month’s most up-to-date Comedy Competition in Liverpool, he joked that British comedy is the “Prince Harry of the TV Royal Household,” “having to battle tougher than it ought to for consideration, for standing and generally for survival.”
Ideas will after all flip to who will change Petrie within the high job. There are many standout candidates from the manufacturing sector, whereas Channel 4 and Sky comedy are run by the highly-rated Charlie Perkins and Alex Moody respectively, and Netflix simply employed its first UK comedy boss, Liz Lewin.
