Film 4's Drama Chief

Tessa Ross is currently Head of Film and Drama of Channel 4. She was previously Head of Film and was responsible for Enduring Love and Dead Man’s Shoes. Before that, she was head of Drama and responsible for Shameless and Sex Traffic amongst other programmes. Success in drama has lead to an increased desire for drama. She has at present a policy of long-running, returning series across Tuesday nights, such as Shameless and No Angels.   Tessa Ross said 'Film and Drama both function as separate entities, with occasional opportunities for crossover. That has proven liberating for talent. For example, Billy Elliot began as a television idea and became a movie. Good relationships with talent lead to the production of quality work'. In May 2009 was named by 'Time' magazine as one of the hundred most influential people in the world.

Films from Film4

 Enduring Love is a 2004 British film directed by Roger Michell with screenwriter Joe Penhall, based on the the novel by Ian McEwan. The story is about two strangers who become dangerously close after witnessing a deadly accident. It won four awards including Empire for Scene of the Year and ALFS for Best British Actor (Daniel Craig).

 Borat is a 2006 mockumentary comedy film directed by Larry Charles and distributed by20th Century Fox. It was written, produced by, and stars the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in the title role of a fictitious Kazakh journalist travelling through the United States, recording real-life interactions with Americans. It won 12 awards including a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an actor in a Motion Picture.

Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. Set and filmed in India, the film tells the story of a young man from the slums ofMumbai who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? The film won 8 Oscars and 7 Baftas.

 Four Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British romantic comedy film directed by Mike Newell, co-produced also by Working Title Films and Duncan Kenworthy. The film follows the adventures of a group of friends through the eyes of Charles, a debonair but faux pas-prone Englishman, who is smitten by Carrie, an attractive American whom Charles repeatedly meets at weddings and at a funeral. It won an ASACP Award and 3 Baftas.

The Lovely Bones is an upcoming film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Alice Sebold. Jackson and his producer partners acquired the rights independently and developed a script on their own, later selling it to DreamWorks. The film will be released on 29 January 2010 in the UK.

Film4

Film4 was originally known as FilmFour and became Channel 4's second channel (after Channel 4 itself) when it launched on 1 November 1998. It was a subscription-only service available on satellite television and most UK cable services. It cost around £6 a month, eventually rising to £7. The first film shown was 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape?' Additional channel were launched such as FilmFour World and FilmFour Extreme, but were discontinued after operating on the time-shift channel FilmFour +1. The subscription service ended on 19 July 2006 and became a free-to-air service four days later. Views then increased from 300,000 subscribers to 18 million households. It broadcast the television premier of Lost In Translation under their new format.