Netflix Hires ‘The Traitors’ Exec Syeda Irtizaali as Head of U.K. Unscripted Series

Netflix has poached a senior BBC exec to lead its unscripted series in the U.K.

Syeda Irtizaali is set to join the streamer, where she will be part of VP of content Anne Mensah’s team and be responsible for programming the U.K. and Ireland’s unscripted series slate.

At the BBC, Irtizaali was most recently interim director of unscripted, overseeing entertainment, documentaries, factual entertainment, specialist factual, arts, daytime and Storyville. Her role included securing and managing hit series such as the British edition of “Traitors” and “Destination X,” part of a partnership with NBCUniversal that she helped orchestrate.

Irtizaali started her career as a journalist with BBC news and went on to work as a producer and executive producer in entertainment and factual entertainment across several independent production companies including Monkey, Planet 24, Diverse, At It and Brighter. She later had a stint as a commissioning editor for entertainment at Channel 4 and was responsible for commissioning hits such as “Alan Carr: Chatty Man,” “The Million Pound Drop,” “The Big Narstie Show,” “The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan” and “The Last Leg.”

“I’m thrilled to be joining Netflix and Anne Mensah’s incredible team of commissioners here in the U.K.,” she said.

Irtizaali fills the director of unscripted U.K. position left by Ben Kelly, who announced his departure after six years at Netflix in May. Kelly — credited with building the streamer’s unscripted team in the U.K. — helped build a slate at Netflix that included hit shows such as “Too Hot to Handle” and “Love is Blind.”