BBC TV chief warns of US threat after big-money Amazon deals

Danny Cohen says BBC cannot compete with 160m deal for Jeremy Clarkson show and was rebuffed when it asked to co-produce 50m royal epic The Crown

One of the BBC's most senior executives has warned of the threat posed by its US on-demand rivals after Amazon spent 160m signing up Jeremy Clarkson and Netflix rebuffed the corporation's approach to co-produce its 50m royal epic The Crown.

Danny Cohen, the BBC's director of television, said Netflix's The Crown, written by Peter Morgan and based on the writer's acclaimed stage play The Audience, starring Helen Mirren, was a "classic BBC subject".