Danny Cohen

This article is about the BBC Controller. For the computer scientist and engineer, see Danny Cohen (engineer). For the cinematographer, see Danny Cohen (cinematographer).

Danny Cohen (born 1974)^[1] is the current Controller of BBC One,^[2] the BBC's flagship television channel in the United Kingdom.^[3] He is the youngest person to be appointed as Controller of the channel.

Education

Cohen attended a Jewish primary school in north London, followed by the City of London School, an independent school for boys in the City of London.^[4] Cohen attended university at Lady Margaret Hall college, University of Oxford, where he was awarded a BA Honours Double First in English Literature.^[4]

Career

Cohen's television commissions have included Skins, Supernanny, Being Human, Blood Sweat and Takeaways, Coming of Age, Him and Her, Lee Nelson's Well Good Show, Mongrels, Russell Howard's Good News and Women, Weddings, War and Me.

Between May 2007 and October 2010, he was the Controller of BBC Three.

During his tenureship of BBC Three, the channel increased its share of 16-34 year old viewers by 58% and won Digital Channel of the Year at the Edinburgh International TV Festival in two out of three years – 2008 and 2010.^[5]

His BBC Three commissions included the BAFTA nominated Blood, Sweat and T-shirts and follow-up series Blood, Sweat and Takeaways, The Undercover Princes, Britain's Missing Top Model, The World's Strictest Parents, The Adult Season, Russell Howard's Good News, Young Voter's Question Time, Stacey Dooley Investigates, Lip Service, Lee Nelson's Well Good Show and Being Human.

Alongside these commissions, he also acquired Summer Heights High from Australia and built a strong following for U.S. animation Family Guy. He also revamped the hourly bulletins 60 Seconds adding a World News update, and hired Tasmin Lucia Khan as the face of news.^[6][7]

In February 2008, The Times newspaper described Cohen as "the boy wonder of British television".^[8]

In January 2009, the Royal Television Society's magazine Television wrote an article about Cohen which posed the question of whether "the 34 year-old wunderkind" would be Director General of the BBC by his early forties.^[9]

Prior to this, Cohen worked at Channel 4 in the UK in various roles including Head of Documentaries, Head of Factual Entertainment and Head of E4. His television commissions at Channel 4 included the BAFTA award-winning Skins, RTS Award-winner Supernanny, the BAFTA-nominated The Trial of Tony Blair, Cutting Edge, The Great British UFO Hoax, The Games, The Inbetweeners, and the BAFTA award-winning Fonejacker.^[10]

Personal life

Cohen is engaged to the economist and author Noreena Hertz.

References

1. ^ Image Dissectors – Who's who at the BBC
2. ^ BBC – BBC One Homepage
3. ^ BBC – Press Office – BBC Three Winter/Spring 2008: Danny Cohen
4. ^ ^{a b} "Action station: the controller who is not ready to grow old just yet". The Independent. 26 January 2009. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/action-station-the-controller-who-is-not-ready-to-grow-old-just-yet-1515547.html. Retrieved 26 June 2011. 
5. ^ BBC News | Entertainment | BBC channels with festival awards
6. ^ BBC3 launches multiplatform revamp
7. ^ BBC – Press Office – New faces and look for BBC Three's 60 seconds
8. ^ BBC Three pins relaunch hopes on integration of TV and web – Times Online
9. ^ Royal Television Society
10. ^ TV Winners in 2008

Media offices
Preceded by Julian Bellamy	Controller of BBC Three 2007 – 2010	Succeeded by Zai Bennett
Preceded by Jay Hunt	Controller of BBC One 2010–present	Incumbent

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Name	Cohen, Danny
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Date of birth	1974
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