Diederick Santer partners with Kudos

Former EastEnders executive producer Diederick Santer has quit the BBC to establish his own independent production company Lovely Day.

Operating under the Kudos Film and Television brand, Lovely Day will be "managed, owned and operated" by Santer and will be afforded "full access to Kudos's creative expertise, production and legal affairs teams".

According to Kudos, Lovely Day will "pioneer innovative new drama formats" and produce "distinctive quality, popular TV drama for UK audiences".

Speaking about the move, Santer said: "I'm so excited about Lovely Day and couldn't be happier that it will dawn under the bright sunlight of the brilliant and hugely successful Kudos Film and TV."

He continued: "I've had ten fantastic years with BBC Drama Production, and worked with numerous wonderful people all of whom I will miss hugely.

"But I hope to be back making shows for BBC before long and of course for other UK and international broadcasters too. I hope Lovely Day will herald a whole new era of quality British TV drama."

Kudos creative director Jane Featherstone commented: "This is a thrilling announcement for Kudos. When we heard that Diederick was considering setting up a drama outfit, we leapt at the chance to be part of it. Diederick has a great track record in developing and producing top quality mainstream drama and his work on EastEnders showed how versatile and brilliant he could be in that genre too."

She added: "We feel he's a great fit with Kudos and we're delighted to be able to support him as he takes the first steps in establishing his new company."

Director of BBC Drama Production Nicolas Brown said: "Diederick has had an outstanding decade at the BBC, culminating in his tenure as executive producer on EastEnders. We are very sad to say goodbye but wish him well in his new venture.

"The movement of talent between companies is important for the creative health of the industry and we hope that Diederick will work with BBC Drama Production again at some point in the future."

In March, Santer stepped down from his exec role at EastEnders, making way for former Hollyoaks boss Bryan Kirkwood. He moved to BBC Worldwide in order to develop internationally co-produced programming formats. He was also on the board of BBC Drama Production.

During his three-and-a-half-year tenure as 'Enders exec, Santer introduced, among others, the Mitchell sisters and the Masoods, orchestrated Ricky and Bianca's return and helmed online spinoff E20. The peak of his producership came in February when 16.6m tuned in for the soap's live 25th anniversary episode, which saw Stacey Slater unveiled as Archie Mitchell's killer.

Prior to EastEnders, Santer worked on BBC period drama Jane Eyre and critically acclaimed drama Cutting It.