Anne Mensah, Netflix’s U.Ok. VP of content material, is without doubt one of the streamer’s most senior U.Ok. executives, overseeing scripted, unscripted, movie and acquisitions. “Any content material that comes out of the U.Ok. slate I take care of indirectly,” she explains earlier than including: “Or, extra particularly, someone who’s higher than me takes care of it and I cheer within the background.”
It’s an announcement typical of Mensah, who all through our hour-long interview is at all times fast to offer credit score to the colleagues and creatives she works with each regionally and internationally in addition to being unabashedly enthusiastic concerning the content material. Earlier than I’ve even managed to hit “document” on our dialog, we’re chatting about “The Gents,” which has been renewed for a second season, and “Love Is Blind U.Ok.,” which is nearly to launch once we converse. After I inform her I’ve seen the primary 4 episodes beneath embargo, Mensah grins conspiratorially: “It solely will get higher and higher.”
“I believe I’ve received the best job as a result of the U.Ok. is simply sensible,” she says. “You’re working with such an unbelievable base of expertise, so then the query is simply how do you present them with the area and the platform to do their finest work?”
Mensah was employed in 2019 from Sky, the place she’d labored on high-end unique productions comparable to “Chernobyl” and “Gangs of London.” The streamer had already greenlit various British reveals out of the U.S. – together with “The Crown,” “Prime Boy” and “Intercourse Training” – and Mensah was employed as the primary U.Ok.-based commissioner. Her activity was to create a gentle “drum beat” of top-class U.Ok. content material to observe the benchmark that had already been set. “I’m not going to lie, it was scary coming off the again of such well-loved reveals,” she says. “They display the vary of selection however they’re additionally extremely nicely liked within the U.Ok. after which globally. So, yeah, that was a bit bit sweat inducing.”
Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall in ‘One Day’ (Courtesy of Netflix)
Teddy Cavendish/Netflix
5 years on, Mensah and her group can boast their very own outsize hits, from the remake of “One Day” starring Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod, to teen fave “Heartstopper,” to Harlan Coben adaptation “Idiot Me As soon as,” which is Netflix U.Ok.’s most profitable present of the 12 months and one of many streamer’s most profitable of all time. Of Netflix’s 107 Emmy nominations this 12 months, 47 are U.Ok.-originated, together with nods for “Child Reindeer” and “The Gents” (Mensah is fast to make clear not all of the U.Ok.-nominated initiatives got here out of her group, comparable to “The Crown,” which has garnered 19 noms).
Nonetheless, Netflix’s success within the U.Ok. is testomony to its funding right here, amounting to greater than £6 billion alone previously 4 years, together with in soundstages and abilities coaching in addition to growth and manufacturing. And there are not any plans to decelerate. Whereas the U.Ok. TV panorama has contracted considerably over the previous 18 months, with commissioning budgets at each PSBs and streamers slashed, after I ask Mensah if Netflix is slicing again on commissioning she categorically replies “No.” “We take the enterprise critically,” she says. “So we do look to guarantee that we’re delivering worth for cash, however no otherwise than we’ve at all times achieved.” Particularly, the U.Ok. group are centered on increasing the native factual leisure providing, from the current “Promoting Sundown”-inspired “Shopping for London” to “At Dwelling With the Furys,” a docuseries about boxer Tyson Fury and his wacky brood and, after all, “Love Is Blind U.Ok.” (“I’m so tickled by the socials on that,” Mensah says.)
Mensah has additionally managed to lure various cinema heavyweights over to the streamer, together with Man Ritchie and Keira Knightley, each of whom have labored on their first ever serialized initiatives at Netflix, Ritchie with “The Gents” and Knightley with upcoming Joe Barton-penned thriller “Black Doves,” which is at present in post-production. (“It’s sensible,” Mensah says of the present, which hasn’t set a launch date but. “Like, correctly sensible.”) How did she persuade Ritchie and Knightley to decamp to the small display screen? “I don’t suppose we’re having to persuade anyone,” she replies. “That concept of authorship within the mainstream is permitting daring voices to be themselves. And in reality, it’s not massively dissimilar to what I used to be doing at Sky.”
It was at Sky, for instance, the place Mensah labored with “Fringe of Tomorrow” author Jez Butterworth on “Britannia,” which ran for 3 seasons. “Generally persons are fairly snobby about the place they suppose ‘nice’ lives,” she says of her ambition to make each standard and critically-acclaimed reveals. “Nice doesn’t reside on the fringes. It lives proper within the middle, as a result of our audiences are intelligent and they’re various.” And, Mensah is just not shy about declaring, she’s had her share of losses too. “They don’t at all times come!” she says of making an attempt woo expertise, revealing she had wished to adapt James Graham’s play “Pricey England” at Netflix. “I went and noticed it [at the National Theatre in London] within the first week and I actually tried, and he selected to go to the BBC. And that’s a superb factor and it’s in all probability utterly proper for the present, as a result of he is aware of the present higher than I do.”
“I simply liked it,” she says. “After which I’ve to have a small cry after which I’ll cheer for it and that’s the entire level.”
Theo James in ‘The Gents’ (Courtesy of Netflix)
Kevin Baker/Netflix
She’s not simply saying it. Mensah – who was as soon as head of impartial drama on the BBC – radiates real enthusiasm when speaking about U.Ok. TV business as an entire, together with her rivals. Though she cringes on the phrase “veteran” (“I can’t bear it,” she jokes), over a decades-long profession Mensah has labored at various U.Ok. manufacturing corporations in addition to Sky and the BBC.
“What issues most is that the U.Ok. [industry] is flourishing,” she says. “Within the U.Ok., I consider that media is massively necessary, so we’ve got to construct the infrastructure nicely and we’ve got to take it critically. I can get misty-eyed concerning the reveals, however I take the enterprise of it actually critically as a result of it’s supported me my entire life.”
The arrival of deep pocketed-U.S. streamers on the U.Ok. scene has been a studying curve for everybody, however Mensah says “we don’t have to struggle, we simply must be constant” — by which I believe she means being clear about Netflix’s function within the ecosystem, whether or not it’s investing in coaching initiatives or doing bespoke offers for each venture (a typical false impression about Netflix is that they at all times purchase out all of the rights on a fee, which “simply isn’t true,” she says.) “Generally folks struggle with us a bit bit, as a result of I believe that typically folks can’t reconcile the concept that we’ve got a really U.Ok.-focused group within the U.Ok. and it’s truthful and it’s actual and it’s constant and we care concerning the business,” she says. That care is why Mensah isn’t hesitating about “correctly cheering” for a lot of of her counterparts on the PSBs, whether or not it’s ITV’s head of drama Polly Hill (“She’s an previous mate”) or Channel 4’s head of drama Ollie Madden (“He killed it on the BAFTAs!”). She additionally credit Lindsay Salt – who was a colleague at Netflix earlier than transferring to the BBC as director of drama in 2022 – for initially pitching “One Day” as a result of she was such a fan of the e-book.
A part of the rationale Netflix has ruffled feathers is as a result of it usually punches above its weight when it comes to the cultural dialog, regardless of have lower than 10% of viewing within the U.Ok. Even so, reveals comparable to “Heartstopper,” “Idiot Me As soon as” and “Child Reindeer” have change into monster hits, dominating social media and newspaper headlines. “Is that as a result of we’re speaking to the viewers?” Mensah muses. “Is that as a result of we’re hyper-focused on having a dialog with our members? As a result of if we had been making actually boring reveals that no person watched, no person would write about us. The 2 issues are utterly linked.”
Sometimes, after all, that has its drawbacks, comparable to within the case of “Child Reindeer.” Created by and starring former comic Richard Gadd, the collection grew to become probably the most talked about reveals of the 12 months earlier than being hit with a $170 million defamation lawsuit from a girl who claims she impressed one among characters. With the courtroom case ongoing, Mensah is proscribed in how a lot she will be able to say however she maintains she is “intensely proud” of the present and “the connection it made with its viewers.” The present has earned 11 Emmy nominations, with Gadd within the working for finest actor and writing.
Netflix strenuously denies the claims within the lawsuit. In a authorized declaration made final month as a part of the case, Mensah averred: “The collection contains no characters named after actual individuals, and stars employed actors. Netflix would have by no means launched the collection had it believed the collection can be understood as stating precise info about anybody.” Thankfully, the expertise doesn’t seem to have frightened Netflix away from collection primarily based on actual occasions. “We’re doing various true tales and we’ve at all times been cautious,” Mensah says.
Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning in ‘Child Reindeer’ (Courtesy of Netflix)
Netflix
Earlier than the authorized drama, one of many causes “Child Reindeer” grew to become so successful was as a result of it felt so contemporary. Over seven sharply-observed, 30-minute episodes Gadd tells his story of sexual abuse, profession failure and stalking with unflinching honesty. Netflix is usually criticized for kowtowing to its algorithm when deciding whether or not to fee or re-commission reveals however a lot of its hits, together with “Child Reindeer” in addition to the current “Supacell,” a couple of group of Black superheroes in South London, don’t appear to be the sort of reveals a pc would spit out. After I put that to Mensah, she replies: “I’d say that none of our reveals are what an algorithm [would come up with] … Why would you do 5 Black superheroes in South London? It’s within the specificity. It’s within the specificity of ‘Child Reindeer.’ It’s within the specificity of [upcoming Jeff Goldblum-starrer] ‘Kaos,’ despite the fact that ‘Kaos’ is bonkers huge and actually like nothing you’ve ever seen earlier than.”
Mensah additionally factors out that each one broadcasters take a look at the information when greenlighting a venture. “I did at Sky, and I did on the BBC as nicely, since you can be very, very short-sighted to suppose that all the pieces,” she says, including that probably the most profitable initiatives have a tendency to return about as a result of somebody is obsessed with them, pointing once more to Lindsay Salt’s love for “One Day.” “So I believe it’s ardour first, however then ardour that’s knowledgeable.”
Mensah’s personal ardour for the job is, after all, unwavering. “I get excited by what we’re doing,” she says. “I believe the potential of actually talking and having a dialog, it’s what BBC does at its finest as nicely,” she continues. “That concept that you may converse to a nation, simply in several methods. However what’s superb is we will take that nationwide dialog to a worldwide platform.”
Quickfire Questions
Are you able to inform us something concerning the upcoming seventh season of “Black Mirror”? Casting possibly?
It’s depraved, you wouldn’t even consider it. I might after which actually I’d be killed. Charlie’s a genius. As a result of he’s a genius folks wish to work with him. You received’t consider who we’ve received on this collection, and also you received’t consider what he’s achieved, the different types of tales over again.
Will there be a Season 8?
[Jokingly going into the third person] She seems to be intriguing and she or he says that they’ve irons within the hearth.
Why did it take so lengthy to do a U.Ok. model of “Love is Blind”?
I believe, to be truthful, we’ve solely, actually simply come collectively. If you consider the timeline when it comes to what U.Ok. non-fiction has been, we’re simply on a development path there. It simply takes time for this stuff to return by way of and are available by way of nicely.
Is the reunion episode going to be reside?
No, it received’t be reside. However it will likely be good!
Did remaking “One Day” really feel like a danger?
Individuals discuss danger in tv on a regular basis, and on one degree, I believe each present is a danger. So then you definately simply go, “OK, do you actually belief and consider within the folks and [production company] Drama Republic who had been on the coronary heart of that present?” They fought for the e-book. They liked the e-book. They put collectively probably the most superb group. You’re simply trusting the folks to do what they do brilliantly. I bear in mind watching it and having to have a small cry, after which understanding that, whether or not it linked or not, it was stunning. However then what’s superb, and that is what I imply about our viewers, is you form of knew it could.
Are you planning on working once more with “The Crown” creator Peter Morgan?
[Back in the third person] She places a quizzical look on, after which she raises her eyebrows. Truthfully, I don’t know if I might love anyone else extra, however actually, yeah. We could also be speaking.
Is something taking place with the Roald Dahl Story Firm?
Sure. Fairly thrilling issues.
What different upcoming reveals are you excited abut?
“Adolescence” [Philip Barantini’s four-part drama series starring and co-created by Stephen Graham]. Every episode’s 50 minutes, roughly, and it’s really one shot. And it’s jaw dropping.
