Diederick Santer

Diederick Santer
Born	3 July 1969 (1969-07-03) (age 42) 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.

Early life

Santer graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in Psychology and the History and Philosophy of Science.^{[citation needed]} He studied Drama at the Drama Studio London and was an actor.^{[citation needed]} He was understudy to Michael Sheen in the Harold Pinter play Moonlight during its West End run.^{[citation needed]} His father Mark Santer was the Bishop of Birmingham and sat in the House of Lords.^{[citation needed]}

Television career

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.

EastEnders

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 EastEnders

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]

References

1. ^ http://web.researcha.com/iccquery/detail/?did=25800708&c=uk
2. ^ "Palmer making EastEnders comeback". BBC News Online. 29 October 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7066949.stm. Retrieved 29 October 2007. 
3. ^ "Sid Owen makes 'Enders comeback". Digital Spy. 30 October 2007. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/a78788/sid-owen-makes-enders-comeback.html. Retrieved 19 March 2008. 
4. ^ "EastEnders super-bitch Janine Butcher will return to show for Christmas: Picture exclusive". The Mirror. 4 December 2008. http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2008/12/04/eastenders-super-bitch-janine-butcher-will-return-to-show-for-christmas-picture-exclusive-115875-20944010/. Retrieved 31 March 2009. 
5. ^ "The original Mitchell sister to return". BBC Online. 7 April 2009. http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/news/news_20090331_n1.shtml. Retrieved 7 April 2009. 
6. ^ Green, Kris (15 June 2009). "Owen, Liz Turner return to 'EastEnders'". Digital Spy. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/a159616/owen-liz-turner-return-to-eastenders.html. Retrieved 15 June 2009. 
7. ^ Green, Kris (25 October 2009). "The Jacksons return to 'EastEnders'". Digital Spy. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a183438/the-jacksons-return-to-eastenders.html. Retrieved 25 October 2009. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Green, Kris (2 November 2009). "Kirkwood replaces Santer as 'Enders exec". Digital Spy. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a184853/kirkwood-replaces-santer-as-enders-exec.html. Retrieved 2 November 2009. 
9. ^ Sweney, Mark (6 May 2010). "Diederick Santer quits BBC to launch production company Lovely Day". guardian.co.uk (Guardian Media Group). http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/may/06/diederick-santer-kudos-lovely-day. Retrieved 6 May 2010. 

External links

• BBC reshuffles top drama execs
• Diederick Santer at the Internet Movie Database

Media offices
Preceded by Kate Harwood	Executive Producer of EastEnders 2006–10	Succeeded by Bryan Kirkwood

Persondata
Name	Santer, Diederick
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	3 July 1969
Place of birth	England
Date of death
Place of death