A report by Alex Farber for The Times of London.

Sir Lenny Henry has set up a television drama production company with a former Casualty and EastEnders executive producer to champion shows from under-represented writers and talent.

Banijay, the Paris-based production group, has backed Esmerelda, the venture set up by the actor, comedian and writer and by Jon Sen, who left the BBC after four years this month.

Esmerelda, which will be supported via a £50 million UK growth fund announced by Banijay in February, will focus on producing drama and comedy with mass market appeal. It will seek to build on shows such as ITV’s Three Little Birds, the Windrush drama that was launched on Sunday and was written by Henry, 65, and with Russell T Davies, the screenwriter and producer, as its executive producer.

Three Little Birds, which opened with an overnight audience of 2.3 million people, was produced by Henry’s Douglas Road Productions, which he established with Banijay in 2014. After the launch of Esmerelda, Henry has stepped back from Douglas Road, which will continue to focus on a range of scripted and unscripted programmes.

Henry said he was looking forward to “scheming and dreaming” with Sen, who has worked at the BBC on its continuing dramas since 2019. A former freelance script writer, his credits include Waterloo Road and Holby City. “Building up to this announcement has been such a roller coaster ride of keeping my nose to the grindstone and my mouth shut,” Henry said.

Esmerelda marks Banijay’s latest talent deal after it invested several million pounds in Happy Valley star James Norton’s Rabbit Track Pictures, struck a multi-project deal with Kevin Macdonald, the Scottish director behind One Day in September, the Oscar-winning film, and agreed a development deal with Big Zuu, the British rapper.

Other Banijay labels are responsible for shows including ITV’s reboot of Big Brother and BBC1’s forthcoming reality series Survivor.

Banijay is said to be in the running to acquire All3Media, a rival, alongside The North Road Company of Peter Chernin, the former Fox Group chief executive, and a private equity bid from Goldman Sachs, according to Deadline, a television trade website. All3Media is co-owned by Warner Bros Discovey and Liberty Global.

Last year Marco Bassetti, Banijay’s chief executive, told The Times: “We are very active in M&A, but we never pay crazy prices.”