Liza Marshall, who, as previously reported, is leaving her job as Channel 4's head of drama, has been talking about her new role with Scott Free, the company owned by directors Ridley and Tony Scott. The production outfit presently does most of its work from Los Angeles, but the brothers are keen to develop the UK end of their business, and that's where Marshall will come in.

Marshall explains: "Ridley loves the UK market and the talent here, but has not found the right person to run it. He loves the shows I worked on such as The Devil’s Whore and he has optioned Red Riding. That shows a commitment".

She goes on to say that she is planning a mixture of feature films and drama aimed at UK broadcasters. "It’s going to be difficult with drama budgets as they are", she told Broadcast, "but there are other ways to fund programming, such as by co-pros. We already have a feature films deal with 20th Century Fox and I have been brought in because I have good contacts in the UK business".

On her departure from Channel 4, which happened just as she was to be given an extra £20m for her drama budget, she continued: "All of a sudden the budget was much bigger and I am leaving with a number of shows in production, and that’s hard. I wasn't looking for a move, but I was approached by Ridley and it was too big an opportunity to turn down".