John Yorke (producer)

John Roland Clifford Yorke (born 9 July 1962) is a British television producer and script editor, who was head of Channel 4 Drama 2003–2005,  controller of BBC drama production 2006-2012 and MD of Company Pictures (2013-2015).

Yorke wrote Into the Woods: How Stories Work and Why We Tell Them (2014), a screenwriting guide that proposes a five act structure to film and television narrative.

Education
Yorke attended Newcastle University.

Early career
Yorke joined the BBC in 1986, working initially in radio as a studio manager and then as a producer on BBC Radio 5.

In 1994, Yorke moved to television, working as a script editor on EastEnders before becoming the storyline consultant on Casualty. In 1999, after a brief period as producer on Sunburn, he took on the executive producer role on EastEnders. He axed the majority of the Di Marco family characters, and helped introduce the Slater family. In what Mal Young described as "two of EastEnders most successful years", Yorke was responsible for ratings successes such as "Who Shot Phil?", Ethel Skinner's assisted death, Jim Branning and Dot Cotton's marriage, abusive Trevor Morgan, and Kat Slater's revelation to her daughter Zoe that she was her mother. Yorke was also responsible for Kim Medcalf being cast in the role of Sam Mitchell in January 2002, after Danniella Westbrook's drug addiction left her unsuitable for the role.

Career
In May 2002, Yorke left the soap for a senior position under Mal Young in the BBC's in-house Drama Series team, but soon after left to work for Channel 4 as the Head of Drama in 2003. At Channel 4, he commissioned Shameless, Sex Traffic and the film Omagh. In 2005, it was announced he would return to the BBC, taking over Young's position as Controller of BBC Drama Series, and, in addition, Co-Head of Independent Drama Commissioning. One reason he returned was to restore the fortunes of EastEnders, which had been receiving lower ratings than in the past. The results were mixed.

In 2005, Yorke founded the BBC Writers Academy, a year-long training scheme for aspiring television writers. In 2009, he was made controller of the newly formed BBC Drama Production – a merger of Continuing Series and Series and Serials.

In 2010, Yorke's job title was changed to that of Controller Continuing Drama Production Studios. He was the executive producer of the Internet spin-off EastEnders: E20 and BBC daytime drama, Land Girls.

In March 2012, Yorke became acting editor of radio soap The Archers while Vanessa Whitburn took long service leave.

He left the BBC again later in 2012. In 2013, he was an executive producer of Truckers and Skins, and the following year, The Missing. Yorke was a regular writer on Red Rock, writing six episodes between 2015 and 2016.

In June 2017, it was announced that EastEnders executive producer Sean O'Connor had stepped down and would be temporarily replaced by Yorke as executive consultant. Yorke announced that he would be staying with the show for a year, longer than his original three months he was contracted to. Under Yorke, EastEnders won its first BAFTA for Continuing Drama in three years – and the last one to date.

TV shows commissioned
Waterloo Road was commissioned by Yorke on his arrival at the BBC from Channel 4. Briefed to find a new returning pre-watershed drama, Yorke approached Shed Productions – makers of Bad Girls and Footballers Wives who had never before had a show on the BBC. During conversations Yorke hit on the idea of a School Precinct and Anne McManus and Maureen Chadwick wrote a pilot episode. After the first series Yorke asked Anne Mensah – then assistant commissioning editor – if she would take over, and under Mensah the show moved to BBC Scotland. The show aired from 2006 to 2015. In September 2021, it was announced that Waterloo Road was to be revived after six years.

The initial idea for Father Brown, a series based on the books by GK Chesterton, came from Yorke after he heard a Radio 4 programme on Chesterton's creation the previous evening. Liam Keelan, then controller of BBC Daytime, commissioned the first season and Yorke asked two of his former BBC Writers Academy students to create the show. It aired in January 2013 on BBC One and Yorke stayed as Executive Producer for the show for two seasons. With a ninth series in production for 2022, it is the second longest-running daytime drama series broadcast on BBC Television.

When Yorke became head of Channel 4 Drama one of the first shows he wanted develop was Life on Mars, but according to show writer Ashley Pharoah, broadcasters had been 'very anxious about it as a concept'. Although Yorke redeveloped the original script over 18 months so it became less violent and with a greater emphasis on 'story of the week', it was ultimately turned down by director of programmes Kevin Lygo. Yorke eventually left Channel 4 to become controller of BBC Drama Production where the show was green lit by Julie Gardner, BBC Wales Head of Drama. Yorke acted as joint commissioning editor for the show's entire run (2006 – 2007).