Jon Farrar is Chief Content Officer, Direct-to-Consumer, at BBC Studios, where he leads programming across BritBox and BBC Select, overseeing the commissions, co-productions and acquisitions that drive the growth of these two streaming services, while also playing an increasingly important role in supporting the UK production ecosystem creatively and financially.

Over the past 12 months, Farrar has led a strategy focused on bigger, more impactful co-productions in partnership with the UK industry, building a slate of high-profile originals including The Other Bennet Sister, The Lady, International Emmy winner Ludwig and BAFTA-winning drama Code of Silence. At a time when financing premium television has become increasingly challenging, Farrar has helped position BritBox as a meaningful creative and funding partner within the market. Working closely with broadcasters, distributors and producers, Farrar has developed new partnership and co-financing models to help projects get made, often bringing together multiple international partners to unlock productions that otherwise may not have reached the screen.

This has included a new strategic direction for BritBox: developing and commissioning original dramas that are then sold back into the UK market. In recent months, fully BritBox-commissioned series Lynley and A Taste for Murder have launched successfully on the BBC and ITV respectively, with further titles to come, including Agatha Christie’s Tommy & Tuppence.

Farrar has strengthened BritBox’s relationships across the UK production community, working with leading producers including Bad Wolf, Left Bank, Mammoth Screen and Lookout Point, while helping reposition the service as a destination for premium British storytelling internationally.

Earlier this year, Farrar was promoted to Chief Content Officer, with BBC Select returning to his portfolio. Farrar is currently overseeing a more ambitious expansion into unscripted originals and factual co-productions, building a slate designed to strengthen BBC Select’s positioning within the global streaming market.

Prior to this role, Farrar was Global VOD Director at BBC Studios, where he conceptualised and launched BBC Select. Farrar was also the first Programming Lead for SkyShowtime, the European streaming joint venture between Comcast and Paramount, where he built the programming division and launched ten original dramas within the platform’s first 12 months.