Mumbai: BBC Studios, the main commercial arm of the BBC, has taken a minority investment in British premium scripted indie production company Turbine Studios, the company behind global hits such as Small Axe (BBC/Amazon), Munich: The Edge of War (Netflix) and Oscar and Bafta winning writer/director Steve McQueen’s Uprising.
Established in 2020 by Andrew Eaton, Tracey Scoffield, Justin Thomson and David Tanner, Turbine Studios is considered one of the most dynamic and entrepreneurial scripted production companies currently working in the UK. The team creates distinctive content that focuses on returning drama for both UK broadcasters and global streaming platforms including the BBC, Netflix, Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video. The company has already in its short history garnered a considerable number of awards for its productions, not least for Small Axe, which is the most Bafta-nominated series ever. Uprising also won a Bafta for Best Factual Series.
Their latest project, Constellation, an eight-part conspiracy-based, psychological thriller for Apple TV+ is written by Peter Harness and stars Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Prometheus) and Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul).
BBC Studios managing director scripted Mark Linsey said, “Turbine Studios has an enviable reputation within our industry. Their focus on creating concept-led, franchise and premium thriller drama is matched by their ability to attract world-renowned talent from behind and in front of the camera. The team has an impressive slate of projects across both TV and film in the pipeline and exciting growth plans that our investment will help to deliver. We’re thrilled and excited to be partnering with them.”
The deal includes the German based sister company Turbine Studios GmbH, which is a co-venture between Turbine Studios, Daniel Hetzer and Matthias Braun. Turbine Studios Germany specialises in original development and production services for the European market. Tom Manwaring of Helion Partners advised Turbine on the transaction.
Turbine Studios said, “We're proud to join this inspiring team and look forward to delivering on a slate of creatively original and ambitious projects using our extensive combined experience.”
