BBC Studios opens fund to turn European stories into TV drama
BBC Studios has set up a centralised fund to turn European books and other existing stories into new television drama. The fund will pay for development, meaning the early writing and packaging work that happens before a series is ordered. Money is already moving. It has started paying out in the UK, Spain and the Nordics, as reported by Deadline.
To find the stories, BBC Studios has called on producer Ben Donald. His job is to find stories. Donald is an executive producer on The Mallorca Files, the light crime drama about British detectives in Spain. His past credits also include Death in Paradise and Parade’s End.
The post is a support role alongside his day job running Cosmopolitan Pictures, the independent production company he founded and still leads. Donald will scan Europe for scripted IP, meaning rights to books, characters and other material that can be adapted for television. He will seek co-production opportunities, meaning shows that are jointly funded by partners in more than one country. He will also build direct relationships with writers, authors and other creative talent.
The plan sits with Matt Forde, BBC Studios’ chief for global productions. His team oversees BBC Studios-owned production labels, meaning the individual production companies within the group, in the UK, Spain and the Nordics. Forde first flagged Donald’s scouting role to Deadline earlier in 2026, when the focus was simply on finding rights. The new fund now puts structure and cash behind that search.
Donald knows the system from the inside. He is a former BBC Studios executive who launched Cosmopolitan Pictures in 2014 in partnership with Clerkenwell Films, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The company went on to co-produce The Mallorca Files. It has since focused on building drama slates made in local languages for key European territories, according to Televisual.
That European focus attracted outside backing. In July 2024, The Story Collective, which is backed by the US studio Fifth Season, took a 25% minority stake in Cosmopolitan Pictures, as reported by Deadline. Cosmopolitan has continued to operate independently under Donald while developing projects across the continent.
For viewers, this is about where shows begin. Development funding decides which ideas can pay writers, commission scripts and put together a package strong enough to win a full series order, meaning a commitment to make a season without shooting a pilot first. When an idea clears that hurdle, it can keep a writers’ room and a crew of a hundred or more in work through to production.
