Ben Stephenson
Biography
Benjamin Stephenson is a television executive, formerly controller of drama at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and currently Head of Television at Bad Robot in the United States.
In 1999 Stephenson worked at Granada as a script editor on the television series Heartbeat. He later worked in the same role for London's Burning and Blood Strangers. Stephenson worked at Channel 4 for over two years, on shows such as No Angels.
He next moved to Shed Productions and Tiger Aspect. While at Shed, he served as producer on the military drama Bombshell, commissioned by ITV but never shown in the UK. It was screened in New Zealand in 2006.
Stephenson joined the BBC in 2004 working as Head of Development for Independent Drama, later becoming Head of Development for Fiction. In 2008 Stephenson then took the role of Head of Drama Commissioning at the BBC. to May 2015.
His hit rate during 2011 included a boost of £10m a year extra for BBC Two drama over the next three years, described by Stephenson as "a breath of fresh air". Several of 2011's dramas, including The Crimson Petal and the White and single film United, have performed well.
The eight-part science fiction drama Outcasts drew disappointing ratings, despite heavy promotion. In 2011 BBC received five of the eight BAFTA drama awards, including two for Sherlock (selected as the best drama series).
Stephenson was appointed in March 2015 as the Head of Television at J. J. Abrams's Bad Robot production company in the United States.
