| Ben Stephenson | |
|---|---|
| Residence | Central London |
| Alma mater | University of Manchester |
| Employer | BBC |
| Salary | £152,800[1] |
| Partner | Tom Rob Smith |
Ben Stephenson is an English television executive, who has been controller of drama commissioning at the BBC since September 2008.[2]
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Stephenson attended The Hewett School in Norwich before studying at Manchester University.[3]
In 1999 Stephenson worked at Granada as a script editor on the television series Heartbeat. He went on to edit scripts for London's Burning and Blood Strangers.[3][2] Stephenson then worked at Channel 4 for over two years, on shows such as No Angels, later moving to Shed Productions and Tiger Aspect.[2]
He joined the BBC in 2004 working as Head of Development for Independent Drama, later becoming Head of Development for Fiction. Stephenson then took the roles of Head of Drama Commissioning at the BBC.[2]
Stephenson's work in drama at the BBC has had mixed results, with programmes such as Being Human being very well received, whereas productions such as Bonekickers were panned by critics.[4]
In July 2009 Stephenson wrote a blog article in The Guardian newspaper in response to criticism's of the BBC's drama output in which he stated:
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"If we didn't all think differently, have different ideas of what works and what doesn't, wouldn't our lives, and more importantly, our TV screens be less interesting? We need to foster peculiarity, idiosyncrasy, stubborn-mindedness, left-of-centre thinking."[5] |
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The comment caused controversy as it was considered to be a breach of the BBC's Royal Charter which obliges the organisation to be impartial in its output. Jeremy Hunt, shadow culture secretary at the time called for Stephenson to make "an immediate retraction and apology", stating "no journalist or editor should be following a political agenda, let alone someone as senior as a controller" with his concerns also echoed by Peter Whittle and Jonathan Isaby. Critics such as Stephen Glover also suggested that rather than being idio-syncratic, Stephenson "is part of the status quo, conforming to the Leftist beliefs that predominate in the BBC." Stephenson later denied that he had meant his comment to have a political meaning, likening it the the phrase "left-field".[6][7][8][9]
Stephenson is gay[10] and lives in Central London with his partner, writer Tom Rob Smith[4]