Head of BBC Films Departs to Lead Steve Coogan’s Baby Cow

LONDON: Christine Langan, the head of BBC Films, is exiting the BBC to join Baby Cow Productions as its CEO.

Langan joined BBC Films ten years ago and has been head of the department since April 2009. Joe Oppenheimer, a commissioning executive for BBC Films, will undertake the role of acting head of films. The BBC will begin recruitment for a new head of BBC Films. Langan will assume the CEO post at Baby Cow Productions, a British comedy-centric television production company established in 1999 by Steve Coogan and Henry Normal.

Tony Hall, BBC’s director-general, said: “I’ve loved working with Christine. She has a real eye for the popular as well as the idiosyncratic. She’s collaborative, ambitious, a brilliant enabler of ideas—and a great ambassador for our country’s film industry. She’s done a great job for BBC Films. We’ll miss her.”

Charlotte Moore, the director of BBC Content, added: “Christine has made an outstanding impact on the independent British film industry. The extraordinary range and quality of BBC Films is down to Christine’s editorial vision, dedication and passion. She has significantly increased the profile of BBC Films and raised the bar for British film across the industry. I would like to thank her for all her hard work and wish her the very best in her new role.”

Langan commented: “BBC Films is a precious resource to independent filmmakers in the U.K. and audiences everywhere. It’s been a truly great privilege and very fulfilling experience to run the division and I’m extremely grateful, both to the BBC for the wonderful opportunity and to an amazingly hardworking and dedicated team, without whom it wouldn’t have been possible. Enlightened leaders like Tony and Charlotte have embraced the vital role that BBC Films plays in our creative life and I hope that audiences will long enjoy the rich array of varied projects nurtured by BBC Films.”