Channel boss Ben Frow rejects Sarah Everard TV drama
Channel 5 channel boss Ben Frow said he would never have commissioned a Sarah Everard drama for his network, even as Jeff Pope writes a BBC series on the investigation into her 2021 murder. Frow called it important and said Pope would do a “great job,” but drew a hard line: “There are some things I just wouldn’t do.”
Key Takeaways
- Channel 5 chief content officer Ben Frow said he would not have commissioned a Sarah Everard drama.
- Jeff Pope is writing a BBC drama focused on the investigation into Everard’s 2021 murder.
- Frow’s commissioning tests include “would I watch it?”, “Is it more trouble than it’s worth?”, and “Why am I doing it?”
- He has greenlit other sensitive true-crime projects, including dramas about Huw Edwards and Madeleine McCann.
- Frow stressed contributor welfare and said Channel 5 will shelve shows when serious objections arise.
What did channel boss Ben Frow say about a Sarah Everard drama?
Speaking in remarks reported by Variety, Frow—chief content officer at Paramount-owned public service broadcaster 5—said he would never have commissioned a drama about Sarah Everard for Channel 5.
He was clear that Pope would do a “great job of it” and that the case is “a very important story to tell.” Still, he placed the Everard project among subjects he personally would not take on, summing up his stance with: “There are some things I just wouldn’t do.”
Why does this matter for UK TV commissioning?
The BBC is moving ahead with Pope’s drama about the investigation into Everard’s 2021 murder. According to Variety, the BBC series will not dramatize her kidnap and murder by an off-duty policeman during the Covid lockdowns, and will focus on the investigation instead.
The network has faced criticism for choosing a male screenwriter for a case widely seen as deeply personal to women across the country and that prompted protests at the time. Frow’s refusal frames a sharper industry question: which real-life tragedies broadcasters will—and will not—adapt for drama.
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How does Frow decide which true stories to commission?
Frow described three commissioning touchstones: “would I watch it?”, then “Is it more trouble than it’s worth?”, and finally “Why am I doing it?” The Everard drama, he indicated, fails that personal threshold for Channel 5.
That caution does not mean he avoids controversy. Variety notes he has backed dramas about Huw Edwards, the BBC newsreader convicted for downloading images of child sexual abuse, and about Madeleine McCann, who disappeared in Portugal in 2007 and has never been found.
On the McCann project, Frow said the McCanns’ press representative “was across the whole thing,” adding that the family “didn’t want to take part in it, but they knew we were doing it.”
Is contributor welfare changing what Channel 5 will air?
Frow said contributor welfare and privacy matter more today than a decade ago. “We have to have people on board, and we want to be able to tell their story, and we want to do it in a responsible way, and not in a sneery, jeery, horrible way,” he explained.
Asked about a lawsuit from Blackbox Media over a shelved Channel 5 drama series, he declined to discuss the dispute in depth but reiterated that the broadcaster takes contributor welfare “very, very seriously.” If someone raises a problem, he said, “we listen to them.”
In some cases, that means cancelling a programme. “There are programs that I have written off because it turns out that somebody feels very strongly that we shouldn’t be doing it, or it’s been done in the wrong way,” Frow said. Mindfulness around harm, he argued, is now central to commissioning judgment—alongside the stories Channel 5 is willing to tell.