| Diederick Santer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 July 1969 Cambridge, England |
| Residence | London, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | TV Producer/Businessman |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Television | EastEnders |
Diederick Santer (born 3 July 1969[1]) is a British television producer and is best known for his work on the popular BBC television soap opera EastEnders, a post which he assumed on 23 October 2006 and left on 1 March 2010. He is Managing Director of drama production company Lovely Day.
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Santer graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in Psychology and the History and Philosophy of Science. He studied Drama at the Drama Studio London and was an actor. He was understudy to Michael Sheen in the Harold Pinter play Moonlight during its West End run. His father Mark Santer was the Bishop of Birmingham and sat in the House of Lords.
His TV career began in 1996 as a freelance script reader for United Productions before becoming script editor on the first two series of Where the Heart Is, and assistant script editor on Paul Abbott's ITV series Touching Evil.
Santer moved to Granada Television where he script-edited the first two series of A&E and The Last Train before joining BBC Drama Series and Serials in 2000, where he produced the first three series of Debbie Horsfield's hairdressing drama Cutting It, starring Sarah Parish and Amanda Holden. He also produced The Taming of the Shrew, the Bafta-nominated Much Ado About Nothing for BBC One, and a lavish adaptation of Jane Eyre.
Santer became Executive Producer of EastEnders on 23 October 2006, his first episode airing on 5 January 2007. He introduced several characters to the show, including ethnic minority and gay characters to make the show 'feel more 21st Century'. Characters he introduced include Zainab Masood, Masood Ahmed, Tamwar Masood, Christian Clarke, Whitney Dean, Tiffany Dean, Ronnie Mitchell, Roxy Mitchell, Archie Mitchell, Jack Branning, Heather Trott, Lucas Johnson, Ryan Malloy and Syed Masood.
Santer also reintroduced past and popular characters to the programme including Bianca Jackson,[2] Ricky Butcher,[3] Janine Butcher,[4] Sam Mitchell,[5] Liam Butcher, May Wright, Owen Turner, Liz Turner,[6] Carol Jackson, Robbie Jackson, Sonia Fowler and Billie Jackson.[7] He reinstated Diane Butcher for a week of episodes in 2008, and brought back Clare Bates and Steven Beale for a period of a few months. He also introduced all four EastEnders: E20 characters: Zsa Zsa Carter, Leon Small, Fatboy and Mercy Olubunmi.
Following the show's 25th anniversary live episode, Santer stepped down on 1 March 2010 and Bryan Kirkwood took over.[8]
After stepping down from EastEnders, Santer continued to work at the BBC, executive producing in a special position developing "new shows that can be internationally co-produced".[8] However, in May 2010, he decided to leave the BBC after ten years to set up his own production company called Lovely Day.[9]
| Media offices | ||
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| Preceded by Kate Harwood |
Executive Producer of EastEnders 2006–10 |
Succeeded by Bryan Kirkwood |
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