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Danny Cohen (media executive)

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Danny Cohen
Born
Daniel Nicholas Cohen

(1974-01-15) 15 January 1974 (age 50)[1]
Westminster, London, England
EducationCity of London School
Alma materLady Margaret Hall, Oxford
EmployerAccess Entertainment
Known forFormer director of BBC Television
TitleController of BBC Three (2007–2010)
Controller of BBC One (2010–2013)
Director of BBC Television (2013–2015)
President of Access Entertainment (2016–present)
Spouse
​
(m. 2012)​

Daniel Nicholas Cohen (born 15 January 1974) is a British television executive. He currently serves as President of Access Entertainment. He was previously the Director of BBC Television from 2013 to 2015.[2] Before that, he was the Controller of BBC One for three years,[3] the BBC's principal television channel in the United Kingdom.[4]

Education

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Cohen was born in Westminster.[5] He attended a local Jewish primary school in north London, followed by the City of London School, an independent school for boys in the City of London.[6] Cohen read English literature at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford where he took a Double First.[6]

Career

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Channel 4

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Between 2000 and 2007, Cohen worked at Channel 4 and its youth service E4. His roles there included Head of Documentaries for Channel 4 and Head of E4.[citation needed]

Cohen's television commissions in this period included Skins, The Inbetweeners, Fonejacker, Supernanny and the documentary strand Cutting Edge.[7]

Controller of BBC Three

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Between May 2007 and October 2010, Cohen was the Controller of BBC Three. During his tenureship of BBC Three, the channel increased its share of 16-34-year-old viewers by 58% and won Digital Channel of the Year at the Edinburgh International TV Festival in two out of three years – 2008 and 2010.[8] His BBC Three commissions included Our War, the BAFTA nominated Blood, Sweat and T-shirts, Britain's Missing Top Model, Stacey Dooley Investigates, and Being Human.

Alongside these commissions, he also acquired Summer Heights High from Australia[citation needed] and built a strong following for US animation Family Guy.[citation needed] He also revamped the hourly bulletins 60 Seconds adding a World News update.[citation needed]

In February 2008, The Times newspaper described Cohen as "the boy wonder of British television".[9] In January 2009, the Royal Television Society's magazine Television wrote an article about Cohen which posed the question of whether he would become Director General of the BBC.[10]

Controller of BBC One

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As Controller of BBC One between 2010 and 2013,[citation needed] Cohen's commissions included: Call The Midwife, Happy Valley, Car-Share, Poldark, The Casual Vacancy, The Voice, Last Tango in Halifax, Eat Well For Less, and The Missing.[citation needed] During his time at the BBC, he led BBC One's coverage of the 2012 London Olympics.[citation needed]

Director of BBC Television

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In May 2013, Cohen became Director of BBC Television, succeeding Roger Mosey, who had been temporarily in the post since August 2012. In this role Cohen oversaw the BBC's Television Networks (BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three and BBC Four) and BBC Productions – Europe's largest television production group. He also had responsibility for the BBC's feature film unit, BBC Films, and the BBC's content on its digital platform, BBC iPlayer.[7] In 2014, BBC Television was the most successful UK television network, and in the first quarter of 2015, the BBC's main network, BBC One, delivered its best start to the year in a decade with a prime-time audience share of 25.2%.[11]

In October 2015, Cohen announced that he was leaving the BBC.[12]

President of Access Entertainment

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In May 2016, Cohen launched Access Entertainment with the businessman Len Blavatnik. Access Entertainment invests in content for theatre, film, television, gaming, the creator economy and the visual arts."[13] Under Cohen's leadership, Access has invested in the production company A24. Alongside Blavatnik, Cohen has been named as executive producer on several A24 films, including Beau is Afraid, The Iron Claw and the Oscar-winning film The Zone of Interest.[14] He has also invested in creator economy firm Spotter, the mobile game developer Tripledot Studios, and the arts centre Lightroom.[15]

Personal life

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Cohen is married to economist and author Noreena Hertz. They were married in 2012 at the Bevis Marks Synagogue in the City of London, in a ceremony conducted by Lord Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, and attended by guests including Rachel Weisz, Daniel Craig, Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi. They live in Primrose Hill, London.[16][17][18][19]

A prominent figure in London's Jewish community, in an interview in 2014 Cohen said that he had "never felt so uncomfortable as a Jew in the UK".[20] Cohen said in 2016 that he was troubled by antisemitism in the Labour Party, stating "“If you are Jewish how can you vote for them? How could you? For me it would be like being a Muslim and voting for Donald Trump, how could you do it?".[21]

Since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel and the ensuing Israel-Hamas war, Cohen has been a regular contributor to The Telegraph, writing on antisemitism in the UK. In particular, he has criticized the BBC's coverage of the war, accusing the broadcaster of anti-Israel bias.[22][23][24][25][26]

References

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  1. ^ Plunkett, John (15 October 2015). "Danny Cohen: the political animal who got rid of Jeremy Clarkson". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  2. ^ "Danny Cohen named as new BBC director of television", BBC News, 23 April 2013
  3. ^ "BBC iPlayer – BBC One". Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  4. ^ "BBC – Press Office – BBC Three Winter/Spring 2008: Danny Cohen". Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  5. ^ Plunkett, John (16 October 2015). "Danny Cohen: the political animal who got rid of Jeremy Clarkson". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  6. ^ a b "Action station: the controller who is not ready to grow old just yet". The Independent. 26 January 2009. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  7. ^ a b "BBC – Danny Cohen, director, TV – Inside the BBC". BBC. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  8. ^ "Entertainment – BBC channels win festival awards". 23 August 2008. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  9. ^ Sabbagh, Dan. "BBC Three pins relaunch hopes on integration of TV and web". The Times. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  10. ^ "Royal Television Society". Archived from the original on 3 July 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  11. ^ Shawley, Pippa (8 April 2015). "BBC One reports strongest first quarter in a decade". Royal Television Society. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  12. ^ "Danny Cohen to leave the BBC". BBC Media Centre. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  13. ^ "Former BBC TV Boss Danny Cohen Joins Len Blavatnik to Launch Access Entertainment". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  14. ^ Balaga, Marta (17 March 2023). "Access Entertainment Invests in Israeli Series 'Red Skies,' Co-Created by 'Euphoria's' Ron Leshem (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  15. ^ Shah, Oliver (1 January 2022). "How start-up Spotter is making a mint from YouTubers like MrBeast with ex-BBC man Danny Cohen". The Times. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  16. ^ "Danny Cohen to be BBC's director of television". www.thejc.com. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  17. ^ Sweney, Mark (20 May 2016). "ITV News' Noreena Hertz: 'I know I have a lot to learn'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  18. ^ "Noreena Hertz". Jewish Lives Project. Retrieved 21 March 2019.[permanent dead link]
  19. ^ Plunkett, John (16 October 2015). "Danny Cohen: the political animal who got rid of Jeremy Clarkson". The Guardian.
  20. ^ Burrell, Ian (22 December 2014). "BBC director: Rising UK antisemitism makes me more uncomfortable than ever". The Independent. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  21. ^ Rigby, Elizabeth (16 April 2016). "How can Jews vote for Corbyn, asks former BBC chief". The Times. Retrieved 16 April 2016. (subscription required)
  22. ^ Rose, David (15 February 2024). "Why I had to come out against the BBC, former corporation boss reveals". The Jewish Chronicle.
  23. ^ "Ex-BBC chief: Network's Arabic service rife with anti-Israel bias, support for terror". The Times of Israel. 21 May 2024.
  24. ^ Pope, Felix (20 November 2023). "BBC is 'institutionally antisemitic', says corporation's former director of television". The Jewish Chronicle.
  25. ^ Ravindran, Manori (23 May 2024). "Analysis: why no one knows how to talk about Israel and Gaza". Broadcast.
  26. ^ Rufo, Yasmin (1 August 2024). "TV industry letter accuses BBC of antisemitism". BBC News. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
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Media offices
Preceded by Controller of BBC Three
2007–2010 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Controller of BBC One
2010–2013 		Succeeded by
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