Jane Tranter
Encyclopedia
Jane Tranter is an English television executive who has been the executive vice-president of programming and production at BBC Worldwide
's Los Angeles base since January 2009. From 2006 to 2008, she was the BBC
's controller of fiction; in this capacity she oversaw the corporation's output in drama and comedy, as well as films and programmes acquired from overseas, across all television channels. Critics were concerned that the BBC had invested too much creative power in one person, and following Tranter's move to the United States, the position of controller of fiction was abolished and the responsibilities divided up among four other executives.
and taking a secretarial course back in Oxford
, she joined the staff of the BBC
in 1985, initially working as a secretary in the radio drama department. Two years later, she made the switch into television, working as a floor manager on popular dramas such as EastEnders
and Bergerac
.
Later that same year she was promoted to assistant script editor, working on the BBC's popular medical drama Casualty
. She quickly caught the eye of producer David M. Thompson
, who promoted her to act as script editor
on the anthology drama series Screen One
and Screen Two, essentially the same programme whose title changed depending on whether it was being screened on BBC One
or BBC Two
, the transmission channel varying depending on content and tone of the dramas produced.
In 1992, she left the staff of the BBC to take up a position as a drama script editor at Carlton Television
, working for Tracy Hofman, controller of drama. Carlton had won the ITV
network franchise for broadcasting in London
on weekdays, and planned to produce dramas for national consumption across the entire network. At Carlton, Tranter oversaw the Timothy Spall
comedy-drama Frank Stubbs Promotes and the Victorian-era medical drama Bramwell
, both of which became successful and popular hits for ITV.
Her success as an executive producer at Carlton led to the BBC making a bid to bring her back to their staff; she returned to the Corporation in 1997, succeeding Michael Wearing
as the in-house Head of Drama Serials. In this role she commissioned and oversaw a range of dramas made or co-produced by the BBC's own drama department, from playwright Arthur Smith
's football
-based comedy-drama My Summer With Des (1998) to gritty contemporary dramas such as Warriors
(1999, starring Matthew Macfadyen
) and traditional BBC literary adaptations in the vein of David Copperfield (also 1999).
(BBC One, 2002–present) and Waking the Dead
(BBC One, 2000–present), as well as award-winning productions such as Paul Abbott
's State of Play (2003) and the adaptation of Charles Dickens
' novel Bleak House (2005). She also oversaw the transformation of popular dramas Casualty
and its spin-off Holby City
into year-round dramas, the addition of a fourth weekly episode to soap opera
EastEnders and the highly successful resurrection of classic science-fiction
series Doctor Who
in 2005.
In 2003, she was responsible for a programming budget in the region of £324 million, and in 2002 alone was ultimately responsible for 473 hours of television.http://media.guardian.co.uk/top100_2003/story/0,13483,989551,00.html
In September 2006, Tranter was promoted to the newly-created Head of Fiction position at the BBC. This made her responsible not only for drama, but for comedy, films and acquired programmes from overseas. In this new position, Tranter had an almost unprecedented amount of control over scripted drama on the BBC.
event in June, her new role in the US was confirmed in September. She began her new job as executive vice-president of programming and production at BBC Worldwide's Los Angeles base on 1 January 2009. The BBC had been criticised for consolidating the control of fiction commissioning in one person; following Tranter's resignation, the responsibilities were split between four BBC executives.
2011 Became an Executive Producer for Torchwood
BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. In the year to 31 March 2010 it made a profit of £145m on a turnover of £1.074bn. The company had made a profit of £106m...
's Los Angeles base since January 2009. From 2006 to 2008, she was the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's controller of fiction; in this capacity she oversaw the corporation's output in drama and comedy, as well as films and programmes acquired from overseas, across all television channels. Critics were concerned that the BBC had invested too much creative power in one person, and following Tranter's move to the United States, the position of controller of fiction was abolished and the responsibilities divided up among four other executives.
Early career
After studying English Literature at King's College LondonKing's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
and taking a secretarial course back in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, she joined the staff of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in 1985, initially working as a secretary in the radio drama department. Two years later, she made the switch into television, working as a floor manager on popular dramas such as EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
and Bergerac
Bergerac (TV series)
Bergerac was a British television show set on Jersey. Produced by the BBC in association with the Seven Network, and screened on BBC1, it starred John Nettles as the title character Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac, a detective in "Le Bureau des Étrangers" Bergerac was a British television show...
.
Later that same year she was promoted to assistant script editor, working on the BBC's popular medical drama Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
. She quickly caught the eye of producer David M. Thompson
David M. Thompson
David Marcus Thompson is a British film and television producer.Thompson moved to London in 1978, and worked for the BBC as a film programmer and documentary maker. He was the founding head of BBC Films...
, who promoted her to act as script editor
Script editor
A script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television programmes, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas with writers, ensuring that scripts are suitable for production...
on the anthology drama series Screen One
Screen One
Screen One is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 between 1989 to 1993.Following the demise of the BBC's Play For Today which ran from 1970 to 1984, producer Kenneth Trodd was asked to formulate a new series of one-off television dramas...
and Screen Two, essentially the same programme whose title changed depending on whether it was being screened on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
or BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
, the transmission channel varying depending on content and tone of the dramas produced.
In 1992, she left the staff of the BBC to take up a position as a drama script editor at Carlton Television
Carlton Television
Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,...
, working for Tracy Hofman, controller of drama. Carlton had won the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network franchise for broadcasting in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on weekdays, and planned to produce dramas for national consumption across the entire network. At Carlton, Tranter oversaw the Timothy Spall
Timothy Spall
Timothy Leonard Spall, OBE is an English character actor and occasional presenter.-Early life:Spall, the third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. , was a hairdresser, and his father, Joseph L. Spall, was a postal worker...
comedy-drama Frank Stubbs Promotes and the Victorian-era medical drama Bramwell
Bramwell
Bramwell is a British television series starring Jemma Redgrave as Dr. Eleanor Bramwell, a woman challenging the domination of men in the medical establishment, who runs a free hospital for the poor in the East End of London, during the late Victorian era .The series by Carlton Television was shown...
, both of which became successful and popular hits for ITV.
Her success as an executive producer at Carlton led to the BBC making a bid to bring her back to their staff; she returned to the Corporation in 1997, succeeding Michael Wearing
Michael Wearing
Michael Wearing is a British television producer, who has spent much of his career working on various drama productions for the BBC. He is best known as the producer of the highly-acclaimed serials Boys from the Blackstuff and Edge of Darkness , which created for him a reputation as one of...
as the in-house Head of Drama Serials. In this role she commissioned and oversaw a range of dramas made or co-produced by the BBC's own drama department, from playwright Arthur Smith
Arthur Smith (comedian)
Brian Arthur John Smith is an English alternative comedian and writer. He was born in Bermondsey, South London, brother to Richard Smith...
's football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
-based comedy-drama My Summer With Des (1998) to gritty contemporary dramas such as Warriors
Warriors (TV series)
Warriors is a British television drama serial, written by Leigh Jackson, produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark and directed by Peter Kosminsky. It starred Matthew Macfadyen, Damian Lewis and Ioan Gruffudd. The music was written by Debbie Wiseman...
(1999, starring Matthew Macfadyen
Matthew Macfadyen
David Matthew Macfadyen is an English actor, known for his role as MI5 intelligence officer Tom Quinn in the BBC television drama series Spooks and for starring as Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.In June, 2010 Macfadyen won a British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting...
) and traditional BBC literary adaptations in the vein of David Copperfield (also 1999).
BBC executive
In 2000, she was promoted to Controller of Drama Commissioning at the BBC, where she was ultimately responsible for overseeing the Corporation's entire drama output across all channels, from the in-house departments and independent companies, in series, serials and one-offs. During her tenure in charge of the drama department, the BBC screened ratings-grabbing popular dramas such as SpooksSpooks
Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
(BBC One, 2002–present) and Waking the Dead
Waking the Dead (TV series)
Waking the Dead is a British television police procedural crime drama series produced by the BBC featuring a fictional Cold Case Unit comprising CID police officers, a psychological profiler and a forensic scientist. A pilot episode aired in September 2000 and there have been a total of nine series...
(BBC One, 2000–present), as well as award-winning productions such as Paul Abbott
Paul Abbott
Paul Abbott is a BAFTA award-winning English television screenwriter and producer. Abbott has become one of the most critically and commercially successful television writers working in Britain today, following his work on many popular series, including Coronation Street, Cracker and Shameless,...
's State of Play (2003) and the adaptation of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
' novel Bleak House (2005). She also oversaw the transformation of popular dramas Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
and its spin-off Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
into year-round dramas, the addition of a fourth weekly episode to soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
EastEnders and the highly successful resurrection of classic science-fiction
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
in 2005.
In 2003, she was responsible for a programming budget in the region of £324 million, and in 2002 alone was ultimately responsible for 473 hours of television.http://media.guardian.co.uk/top100_2003/story/0,13483,989551,00.html
In September 2006, Tranter was promoted to the newly-created Head of Fiction position at the BBC. This made her responsible not only for drama, but for comedy, films and acquired programmes from overseas. In this new position, Tranter had an almost unprecedented amount of control over scripted drama on the BBC.
BBC Worldwide
Throughout 2008, there was media speculation that Tranter would be leaving the BBC to take up a position as head of BBC Worldwide's American arm. Despite denying the claims at a Royal Television SocietyRoyal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
event in June, her new role in the US was confirmed in September. She began her new job as executive vice-president of programming and production at BBC Worldwide's Los Angeles base on 1 January 2009. The BBC had been criticised for consolidating the control of fiction commissioning in one person; following Tranter's resignation, the responsibilities were split between four BBC executives.
2011 Became an Executive Producer for Torchwood