Diederick Santer Steps Down as BritBox International’s Chief Creative Officer

Diederick Santer, chief creative officer at streamer BritBox International, has stepped down from his role.

He joined just 18 months ago from Kudos with the mandate of curating a slate of top shows. Among the programs he has overseen are “Stonehouse,” which features “Succession’s” Matthew MacFadyen and is set to launch next week, and the upcoming Cary Grant biopic “Archie,” which stars Jason Isaacs.

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Santer, who reported into BritBox CEO Reemah Sakaan, was also tasked with overseeing global programming, across all genres and international markets, including commissions and acquisitions, outside of the U.K.

According to Santer’s LinkedIn, he stepped down earlier this month, moving from his full-time creative role to a part-time executive role. Sources tell Variety that he is set to stay on at BritBox International to help executive produce and manage a handful of shows until the end of February.

Sakaan will step in to cover his role with support from the editorial team until a replacement is found. With an extensive slate already set, the source told Variety that Santer’s departure, while sad, won’t change anything for the streamer.

Last June Santer unveiled the streamer’s new slate alongside Sakaan in London, where he revealed BritBox International’s spend on programming had trebled while its marketing spend had doubled.

At Kudos, where Santer was CEO, he oversaw shows including Gemma Chan-starrer “Humans” (AMC) and “Man in an Orange Shirt” (Channel 4).

BritBox International, which launched in the U.S. in 2017, is jointly owned by BBC and ITV. (BritBox U.K. is now solely owned by ITV, who bought out the BBC last year in advance of launching its new streamer ITVX.)

Broadcast first reported the news.

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