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Lara joined Channel 5 after three years in Commissioning at Channel 4, where she was project lead for the Rio Paralympics and developed factual series including MY TRANS STORY, DISABLED FIGHT CLUB and A VERY BRITISH BROTHEL.
Her previous production credits include PANORAMA, CUTTING EDGE, THE WORLD’S STRICTEST PARENTS and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: THE UGLY FACE OF PREJUDICE.
Lara is responsible for Channel 5’s News coverage and topical daily discussion programme THE WRIGHT STUFF. She also looks after factual series THE DOG RESCUERS WITH ALAN DAVIES, WINTER ROAD RESCUE and ANCIENT MYSTERIES.
Lucy Bacon started her career in production before moving into factual development: working for Optomen, Princess Productions, Shine TV, Remarkable Television and BBC Studios. Last year she joined Wall to Wall Media as Head of Factual Development. Recent commissions for Wall to Wall include First impressions for E4 and 100 Years Younger Experiment for ITV. Other commissions include Bodyshockers, Jewish Mum of the Year and Gordon Ramsay’s Cookalong Live for Channel 4, Ashley Banjo’s Secret Street Crew for Sky1 and Eddie Stobart Trucks and Trailers for Channel 5 among others.
As joint Channel Manager for 5STAR Seb is responsible for 5TAR’s growing commissioning slate, plus in his role as commissioning executive, oversees a number of other projects for Channel 5.
His series on 5STAR include Baby Ballroom, When Kids Kill, Bad Teen to Ballroom Queen and Rich Kids Go Stint. His commissions for Channel 5 include My Extreme OCD Life, Murder on the Internet and Borderline, Channel 5’s first commissioned comedy in recent years.
Sean Doyle joined the channel 5 commissioning team in July 2015 and since his arrival has commissioned a wide range of factual projects. From super sizing the adrenalin fuelled Police Interceptors to green lighting The Secret Life of Puppies and Kittens which will return later this year for a further 8 part series. He has also focused his attention to regional indies commissioning 20 part series Strip Date from Welsh Indie Boomerang, to A Year In The Wild: The Yorkshire Dales from Bristol’s Tigress and a soon to be announced innovative social experiment from a fledging Northern Irish indie.
Working with regional companies is second nature to Sean having been BBC’s Daytime and Features Head of Development for projects being made in Northern Ireland and Bristol before joining Channel 5. At the BBC he created BBC Two series “Michael Portillo’s State Secrets” and the celebrity driven social history series “Blitz Cities” which has led to BBC NI carrying this form of programming further since his departure.
Earlier in his career he held development positions at ITV, Wild Rover and The Telegael Media group where he won a raft of
commissions for various broadcasters.
His formative production positions were held at ITV and Endemol from 2005-2009.
Ben Frow is the maverick director of programmes for Channel 5, joining the broadcaster in February 2013 where he leads on all content across the portfolio of channels including commissions and acquisitions. Frow is responsible for the extensive creative renewal of Channel 5, building reputation and driving ratings, and significantly increasing the volume and range of original productions. Recent commissioning highlights range from Rich House, Poor House to Gangland; Cruising with Jane McDonald to The Accused; Slum Britain: 50 Years On to Yorkshire: A Year in the Wild.
Frow was formerly director of programming for Irish broadcaster TV3 where he increased audience share, launched TV3 Productions and grew 3e to become Ireland’s number one digital channel.
Frow was Controller of features and entertainment at Channel 5 between 2004 and 2007, developing shows including How Not to Decorate, The Hotel Inspector, Cosmetic Surgery Live and The Joan Rivers Position.
Previously he spent five years at Channel 4 becoming head of factual entertainment and features. Commissioning highlights included Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, Property Ladder, Jamie’s Kitchen, Sex Tips for Girls, Nigella Bites, You Are What you Eat and How Clean Is Your House?
He began his television career with six years as a stylist/producer at ITV and was a senior producer at GMTV before moving to the BBC to be an executive producer for both BBC1 and BBC 2.
Danny joined the Documentaries commissioning team in September 2015 and commissions across one, TWO and three. He’s recently recommissioned Hospital for TWO, a second series of Ambulance for BBC one, a raft of Louis Theroux films, two drama docs, a 90mins film about gun crime in the US and more Professor Green docs for BBC Three. Before joining the BBC Danny was an executive producer at Voltage TV and The Garden.
Elaine launched Crackit Productions in 2008 with a vision to create ground breaking television productions that would stimulate debate and generate headlines across the world. Under her command, Crackit has produced over 200 hours of award winning television shown across broadcasters and international boundaries including Save Money:Good Food (ITV 1), The Secret Life of the Hospital Bed (BBC One), Bad Habits (Channel 5), Katie Hopkins: My Fat Story (TLC) and Countdown To Murder (Channel 5) to name a few.
Prior to setting up Crackit, Elaine has held positions on the board of Endemol UK and was Managing Director of Brighter Pictures, overseeing programmes such as Big Brother at the height of the hype surrounding the show. Elaine prides herself in taking the time to source and nurture the very best on and off screen talent and has long been an advocate and mentor of the disabilities and race scheme CDN.
Paul is currently Head of Sales & Marketing at London’s 3 Mills Studios. Before relocating to London from Sydney in 2015, he was Director of Production Attraction & Incentives at Screen NSW and prior to that Manager of Fox Searchlight & Specialised Films at 20th Century Fox Film Distributors (Aust). He previously ran his own business specialising in the exhibition of Asian films in Australia. He is an Associate Member of BAFTA.
Linkedin Profile here: www.linkedin.com/in/pauldecarvalho
Alison joined Kudos as an Executive Producer in 2007. Since joining Kudos, Alison has been the Executive Producer on dramas including Hunted, starring Melissa George and Adam Rayner (BBC One/HBO Cinemax), children’s spy drama MI High Series 3-6 (CBBC) ASHES TO ASHES 3, NEARLY FAMOUS, Eternal Law (ITV), Moving Wallpaper (ITV), Echo Beach (ITV) and is currently producing the seventh series of MI High and fifth series of Law and Order UK (ITV).
At Kudos, Alison has worked with a variety of well established and emerging talent and constantly seeks new writers and directors to introduce to the company. Alison is a keen and devoted mentor as part of Red Planet Pictures and Kudos’ new writer development scheme.
Before becoming freelance, Alison was Head of Development at Working Title Films where she worked with talent including Richard Curtis and Michael Hirst. As an independent producer, Alison produced the multi award-winning There’s Only One Jimmy Grimble (SRP/Impact/Pathé), Murder Rooms II (BBC Films / WGBH Boston), No Night is Too Long (BBC /Alliance Atlantis), Carla (RDF), Faith (BBC), the BAFTA award-winning TV movie Not Only But Always, Child of Mine (ITV) and The Amazing Mrs Pritchard (BBC1).
Cameron began his career at Sky’s subscriber contact centre in Livingston before working for their broadcasting team in Osterley. He then moved to ITV, where he worked as part of the launch team for ITV2.
He subsequently moved into script and series editing on long-running drama series such as Casualty, before landing his first producing job on Series 6 of the hit prison drama Bad Girls for Shed Productions. He went on to produce two series of Footballers’ Wives. In 2007 Cameron moved to Kudos Productions to produce the International EMMY award-winning second series of Life on Mars, and in 2009 produced BBC2’s critically acclaimed Moses Jones. Other BBC credits include Silk and Young James Herriot.
In 2011 Cameron was asked to oversee the move of Waterloo Road from Rochdale to Glasgow; as Executive Producer he worked on fifty episodes of the show. Cameron has worked in development for Tiger Aspect Productions, Shed Productions and for BBC Productions.
In 2013, Cameron joined Sky Drama as Commissioning Editor, he acted as Head of Drama whilst Anne Mensah was on sabbatical, and now works with Anne across the entire slate, focussing on shows in production and in advanced development. Current titles include Jamestown, Bulletproof, StrikeBack, Tin Star, Riviera and the forthcoming Britannia, a co-production with Amazon Studios.
Boyd Hilton is a journalist, author, critic and broadcaster. As well as his day job of Entertainment Director of Heat magazine where he has worked since its launch in 1999, Boyd also wrote the book ‘Inside Little Britain’ with Matt Lucas and David Walliams. He has been a weekly contributor to BBC Radio 5 Live, reviewing television, books and films for over a decade. He is also a regular critic on Radio 4’s Front Row, has written for The Guardian and Observer, and hosts two podcasts – ‘Footballistically Arsenal’ and “The Unmissables – a pop culture weekly’. He also frequently hosts events for Bafta and the BFI, among many others.
Kate Leys is a script and story editor who works in feature films. As well as working with screenwriters and filmmakers – including recently John MacLean, Alice Lowe, Bart Layton, Paul Wright, Jesse Armstrong & Sam Bain, Deborah Haywood, Alice Birch, Josh Appignanesi, Rungano Nyoni, Lucy Cohen, Nick Payne and others – she works with a wide range of producers and film financiers. She is chair of the Wellcome Screenwriting Fellowship and has been head of development at several companies including Film4.
Hilary Salmon is Head of Drama London for BBC Studios leading the team in developing and producing multi-award-winning shows, that are renowned for their quality and loved by audiences around the world. These include big global hits like Silent Witness, sold to 235 territories worldwide and highly acclaimed, impactful dramas like Luther starring Idris Elba, Rillington Place, starring Tim Roth and Samantha Morton, Undercover, starring Sophie Okonedo and Three Girls, which achieved a consolidated audience of over 8 million in the UK and sparked a national conversation.
Hilary has been Head of Drama London at BBC Studios since 2014. Prior to this she was an Executive Producer, responsible for a diverse range of titles from To the Ends of the Earth starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Byron starring Johnny Lee Miller, Inside Men, One Child, Shoot the Messenger, Eroica, What Remains, One Night and the hugely popular legal series Silk, starring Maxine Peake. She also exec produced the iconic Criminal Justice, which won a BAFTA and a Broadcast Award for Best Mini-Series, the International Emmy and RTS for Best Actor for Ben Wishaw, a Prix Italia award and the BAFTA Writer’s Award for Peter Moffat and was re-versioned by American network HBO as The Night Of. Hilary has also co-produced shows with HBO, including Five Days and House of Saddam, which won a Grierson Award.
Producer and Executive Producer Simon Lewis has been responsible for many of the UK’s top rating dramas includingThe Darling Buds of May, A Touch Of Frost, Sharpe, Grafters, Touching Evil, Where The Heart Is, The Paradise and The C Word (Nicole Taylor’s adaptation of Lisa Lynch’s book of the same name starring Sheridan Smith). His awards include No Child Of Mine (BAFTA 1997), Cherished (Grierson Award 2005) and Five Daughters (RTS and Prix Europa 2010). Three Girls, which was broadcast in May 2017, has won the International Prize for Best Drama at the La Rochelle Festival du Fiction and the Best British TV Drama Award at the British Screenwriters Awards.
Simon was Controller of Drama for United Film & TV from 1995-97 and Controller of Drama for Granada TV from 1997-2000.
Philippa started out as a director of documentaries. She moved into drama with The Other Boleyn Girl which she adapted and directed for BBC. Her other directing credits include Five Daughters, Jamaica Inn, Cider with Rosie and the recent feature film Swallows and Amazons for BFI/BBC films. She was lead director on the very first series of BBC hit drama Call the Midwife and directed the first Christmas Special for which she won the BAFTA for Best Director Fiction in 2013. She is the only woman ever to have won this award. Her most recent work is as director for Netflix’sThe Crown, and Three Girls for BBC One.
Nicole Taylor most recently wrote BBC One’s three-parter Three Girls about the Rochdale grooming scandal, which opened to outstanding reviews and a powerful audience response. “Searingly compelling drama”– The Times – “This is what TV is for”. “TV with this kind of power and significance is rare today – telling, or asking us something about ourselves, in the Cathy Come Home tradition – and to see it three nights running in prime time on BBC One is astonishing”– The Herald.
Nicole recently won Best British TV Drama Writing at this year’s London Screenwriter’s Festival for her work on Three Girls. The drama averaged a consolidated audience of 8.1 million on BBC1 and more than 9.3 million requests for the series were made on BBC iPlayer.
Prior to that Nicole’s multi-BAFTA nominated single drama The C Word, was produced for BBC1 and starred Sheridan Smith. Previously Nicole has written on numerous series, including Indian Summers for Channel 4, The Hour for BBC2 and Ashes to Ashes for BBC1.
Her original feature Country Music is currently in production in Glasgow, directed by Tom
Harper and produced by Faye Ward, with backing from BFI, Creative Scotland and Film Four and starring Julie Walters, Jessie Buckley and Sophie Okonedo.
ElSue joined Studio Lambert in 2015 to create a dynamic scripted department.
Previously a Senior Executive at BBC Drama Production and Head of Drama at Granada Television and United Television, Sue has produced hundreds of hours of popular and award-winning drama. Her first title for Studio Lambert is the critically acclaimed Three Girls. Sue’s shows include the BAFTA-nominated The C Word, the BAFTA-nominated The Go-Between, RTS-winner Five Daughters and BAFTA-winner The Fades. Other titles include Larkrise to Candleford, Survivors, Waking the Dead, Touching Evil, Where the Heart Is, Grafters and BAFTA-winning No Child of Mine.
Pete began his career at Spitting Image and Aardman Animations before developing his taste for live action comedy, working on some of the biggest comedy series of the 1990s. After moving to the BBC, where he joined comedy team, Pete took on the role of commissioning editor at Comedy Central.
Following a stint at Tiger Aspect where he was appointed Head of Comedy, Pete joined the growing team at UKTV where he looks after scripted commissioning across comedy and drama for Gold, Dave, W, Drama and Alibi.
Laurence Bowen is a multi BAFTA Award winning Producer who most recently produced Porters, a three part comedy for UKTV’s Dave, starring Rutger Hauer. His work also includes The Eichmann Show for BBC2 starring Martin Freeman, Suburban Shootout, Stone Scissors Paper, Dual Balls, Gates, Miranda, My Life As A Popat and The English Harem.
Laurence began his career at the BBC before joining the indie sector, first at Diverse Productions and then Feelgood Fiction. In 2016 he launched Dancing Ledge Productions.
Helen is a BAFTA award winning programme-maker with a plethora of high-profile, primetime series under her belt. Since joining UKTV, Helen has exec produced on shows across the network including, Storage Hunters UK (including the celebrity specials), Deadliest Pests Down Under and Live Boxing for Dave, Get Me To The Church, Dynamo Live and Honey I Bought The House for W, and Most Haunted Live for Really. She also commissioned both Dr. Christian Will See You Now and Celebrity Haunted Hotel for W. Over time she’s developed great relationships within the television industry and with talent both on and off-screen. She enjoys working up great, original ideas and has the knowledge and talent to execute them at the highest level.
Her freelance producer credits include, I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, Location, Location, Location, Extreme Fishing with Robson Green, Rory and Paddy’s Great British Adventures, Get a New Life, Singing in the Rainforest, Young War Widows and The Singing Estate.
Genre
Daytime and Early Peak.
A multi-genre portfolio including factual, factual entertainment, current affairs, entertainment and drama.
Slots
Stripped series for the following:
BBC One Mornings
Distinctive, high impact formats and current affairs series. Could be event-led, live or topical or higher volume that could become returners.
BBC One afternoons
Factual Entertainment formats and quizzes that can sustain high volume. Escapist, fun, good company but also distinctive.
BBC Two Early Peak
A small opportunity for new high volume factual entertainment series in the 6-7pm slot. High quality programmes that have a clear point of difference from current returners in this slot. Ideas that could transition into later peak.
Credits
BBC One Mornings
Rip Off Britain
Food: Truth or Scare and Health: Truth or Scare
Sister Rita to the Rescue
Operation Meet the Street/Operation People Power/Operation Hospital Food
BBC One Afternoons
The Farmers’ Country Showdown
James Martin’s Home Comforts
Early Peak
The Repair Shop
The One Show
Peak
MasterChef, Celebrity MasterChef and MasterChef the Professionals
As Director of Commissioning, Richard Watsham oversees the editorial, production and commercial partnerships elements of all UKTV originations. He and his team of experienced programme-makers-turned-commissioners produce bold, brand-defining programmes across a wide variety of genres from factual through entertainment and from documentary to scripted comedy.
Richard and his team commissioned BAFTA-nominated Taskmaster, International Emmy-winning Hoff the Record, and multi-award winning Dynamo: Magician Impossible, as well as successful comedy entertainment shows for Dave, Dave Gorman Modern Life is Goodish and Dara O Briain’s Go 8 Bit. He also brought top talent to W with John Bishop: In Conversation With… and Dr Christian Will See You Now. Richard has overseen a move into scripted comedy including The Rebel and Marley’s Ghosts for Gold, and Dave’s popular returning series Zapped. In addition, following the successful return of cult sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf, starring the full original cast, to Dave in 2016, Red Dwarf XII comes to the channel later this year.
Richard has increased the network’s push into live broadcasts by ordering coverage of David Haye’s comeback fight against Australian Mark de Mori. The show delivered UKTV’s highest ever peak rating, with 3.2 million people tuning in.
Before joining UKTV, Richard spent more than ten years as a director and series producer, moving into broadcasting in January 2010 as Commissioning Editor of Virgin channel, Bravo.
Hilary Rosen is deputy director of Commissioning at UKTV, commissioning and executive producing high profile and award-winning shows for the network, including Taskmaster, John Bishop: In Conversation With…, Unspun with Matt Forde, Monty Python Live and Crackanory.
Prior to joining UKTV Hilary was creative director at Silver River devising formats including The Town That Never Retired, BBC 1 and overseeing Inside Gatwick, Sky 1.
Her career has also encompassed ten years as a senior executive producer at Lion Television where credits include The Real Cherie, BBC1, Bad Behaviour, Channel 4, Mum’s on Strike, ITV1, Ann Robinson’s Travels With an Unfit Mother, BBC 1 and Going Straight, Channel 4. Hilary began her career with a decade in BBC News and Current Affairs, including stints on Panorama and Newsnight. Hilary has also acted as a consultant for BBC Academy, training the factual development teams and helping to launch idea portal iCreate.
Hannah Wyatt has been Managing Director of Boundless since July 2015 having joined as Creative Director in March 2014. Reporting to CEO FMUK Unscripted Liam Humphreys, Hannah oversees the Boundless programme slate, and is responsible for ensuring the growth of the label over the coming years. New launches include The Week the Landlords Moved In for BBC One, The Secrets in My Family for UKTV and the recently recommissioned Normal for Norfolk for BBC Two.
Hannah joined from Mentorn, where she was Director of Programmes, having been Mentorn’s Head of Factual Entertainment and Features for 18 months prior to that. While at Mentorn she has been responsible for The Fried Chicken Shop, Cutting Edge and series on Channel 4, Watermen: A Dirty Business for BBC 2, Hotel of Mum and Dad for BBC THREE, Up All Night: Minicabs on Channel 4, The Hariy Bikers Mississippi Adventure and John Torode’s Australia for UKTV Food, Stacey Dooley: The Truth about Domestic Violence, for BBC THREE ,Young and Married for MTV, three series of Underage and Pregnant, Dying for Clear Skin, Tulisa: My Mum and Me, I Can’t Stop Stealing – all for BBC THREE. Katie: The Science of Seeing Again for Channel 4; Grease: School Musical for Sky1; The Real Full Monty for Sky1; David Suchet on Sid Fields and Rex Appeal for BBC Four; Diet on the Dance Floor for Living; The Bill Made Me Famous for ITV1 and Jean Christophe Novelli’s US launch for Bravo – Le Chef. She joins BBC Studios as Genre Director, Factual Entertainment & Events early next year.
Rachel Springett joined Channel 4 in 2012 and is a commissioning editor in the comedy department. Rachel has commissioned the award-winning Chewing Gum, written by and starring Michaela Coel; Crashing by award-winning Phoebe Waller-Bridge:, multi-award-winning Toast of London, the Black Mirror Christmas special; and Jessica Knappet’s Drifters. Forthcoming series include Stephen Mangan’s Hang Ups; Roisin Conaty’s GameFace; Lee and Dean; and Dead Pixels written by award-winning Jon Brown. Rachel is also currently serving as executive producer the latest comedy film from Fudge Park, directed by Iain Morris and starring Joe Thomas, Claudia O’Doherty and Jermaine Clement. Previously, Rachel was producing comedy at Objective Productions for shows such as Toast of London, co-written by and starring Matt Berry and Father Ted’s Arthur Mathews, and at Bwark where she produced comedy TV and radio shows.
Lucy Leveugle has worked as Commissioning Editor in the Factual Entertainment department at Channel 4 since 2012, commissioning series such as the award-winning The Undateables, Child Genius and the forthcoming Finding Mum and Dad. She also looked after Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds and commissions popular documentary singles such as Life Stripped Bare, Inside the Ku Klux Klan or The Knowledge. She has recently greenlit several new series as well as several TX pilots.
Sarah Muller is Head of Children’s at Channel 5 in the UK. Responsible for the commissioning and acquisition of children’s programming for Channel 5’s digital and linear platforms, Sarah oversees the channel’s popular programming strand, Milkshake!
Previously, she was Creative Director – Scripted, Animation and Co-Productions for CBBC Productions, and was, prior to that, Head of CBBC Acquisitions, Animation and Drama Development for CBBC.
Passionate about all Kids’ content, her commissioned projects include Danger Mouse, Strange Hill High, The Worst Witch, Harriet’s Army, Wolfblood, The Dumping Ground, Tracy Beaker Returns, Dr Who – Dreamland, Muddle Earth and Just William.
Prior to joining BBC Children’s, she was Managing Director/Executive Producer of UK Prod Co – Elephant Productions whose credits include the multi-award winning Grizzly Tales For Gruesome Kids (CITV), New Willo The Wisp (Disney) and the BAFTA-winning drama series The Revenge Files of Alastair Fury (BBC1).
Ed Sayer is Head of Original Commissioning for Discovery Networks International, a division of Discovery Communications.
He joined the team in October 2015 and in his role, he oversees, commissions and creates content, including series and specials, across all genres for Discovery Networks International’s London production hub to be broadcast in more than 220 countries, including the UK.
Sayer is an experienced executive producer and international channel commissioner who has led numerous creative and ratings successes throughout his career and has been responsible for many hundreds of hours of content. Recent commissions include Idris Elba: Fighter, Artic Waters: The Last Harbour, Ed Stafford: Left For Dead and Body Bizarre.
Prior to joining Discovery, Sayer was VP of Commissioning for National Geographic and has executive produced many of their channel successes including: Science of Stupid; Ultimate Airport Dubai; Air Crash Investigation and T.rex Autopsy.
Gill Wilson has been Head of Features for Channel 4 for 5 years, which encompasses Channel 4, daytime and More4. Her department’s work includes Grand Designs, The Supervet, Married At First Sight, Great Canal Journeys, Escape to the Chateau’, ‘Food Unwrapped’ and Superfoods.’ Previously of BBC Manchester, Ginger and Endemol, she created ‘Snog Marry Avoid?’ and ‘Hotter Than My Daughter’ for BBC3.
Tom McDonald is the head of Natural History and Specialist Factual commissioning at the BBC.
Recent commissioning highlights from the department include the BAFTA winners Planet Earth II and Muslims Like Us; the BAFTA nominated Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs as well as ratings hits including Amazing Hotels, Fifteen Billion Pound Railway, Spy In The Wild, The Day The Dinosaurs Died and Inside The Factory.
As well as overseeing hundreds of new titles each year, Tom and his team oversee some of the BBC’s biggest returning factual shows including Trust Me, The Watches and Stargazing Live.
Appointed Head of Comedy in 2017, Fiona McDermott joined Channel 4 as Commissioning Editor in 2011. During that time she has worked across the department’s multi-award winning scripted slate including; BAFTA-winning Catastrophe, the RTS-winning Flowers, Ballot Monkeys, Raised By Wolves, Man Down, Cardinal Burns and The Mimic. Forthcoming commissions include; Back, Derry Girls and Stath. Previously McDermott was a Producer at Zeppotron, working on 8 out of 10 Cats, Would I Lie To You, You Have Been Watching and Screenwipe and a Series Producer at Objective Productions.
Phil Edgar-Jones is Director of Sky Arts and Head of Entertainment at Sky. He joined Sky in 2012 as Head of Entertainment where he commissioned for Sky 1, Atlantic and Arts – with shows ranging from Wild Things on Sky 1 to Portrait Artist of the Year on Sky Arts. He took on overall responsibility for Sky Arts in 2014 and since then has commissioned programmes ranging from Brian Johnson’s Tales from the Road to Tate Britain’s Great British Walks; Wagners Ring Cycle from Bayreuth to the world’s first Computer Generated Musical – Beyond the Fence. Sky Arts is also now the home of the South Bank Show and The South Bank Show Awards. The Channel has also created a number of partnerships with institutions including the National Theatre, English National Opera, English National Ballet, The Barbican and Sage, Tate Britain, the National Trust and many many more.
Before Sky Phil was Creative Director and Executive Producer on Big Brother throughout its time on Channel 4 and prior to that he was Executive Producer of the Jack Docherty Show, The Priory and Series Editor of the Big Breakfast, Producer/Director of the Word.
Even before that he was a rubbish TV presenter on Moviewatch (Channel 4) and GamesWorld Live (Sky 1). Thankfully all tapes of this period have been erased.
Prior to that Phil was a writer for magazines specialising in music and film.
Ed HavardEd Havard is the head of Entertainment, TV Events and Sport at Channel 4. In his role as the head of this cross genre department, he oversees hundreds of hours of programming including The Last Leg, 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, The Crystal Maze, Stand Up To Cancer, Alan Carr’s Chatty Man, The Paralympics, The Alternative Election Night, and Formula One. He began his career in BBC News and Current Affairs at the BBC, where he was the Editor of BBC One’s Question Time and produced a range of major news and current affairs programmes and events.
David joined the BBC as Head of Popular Factual and Factual Entertainment in January 2017. His team work across BBC One and Two – titles within the department range from Countryfile, Watchdog Live and Antiques Roadshow to DIY SOS, Back In Time For Dinner and Mind Over Marathon. It also houses a huge amount of talent including Mary Berry, Nigella Lawson, Monty Don, Nadiya Hussein, The Hairy Bikers, Rick Stein and Tom Kerridge. The department is currently developing a push in to Fact Ent for both channels. Prior to joining the BBC, David was a documentaries commissioner at C4 working across The Trial: A Murder In The Family, The Tribe, The Jihadis Next Door and The Vote. In production, he was co-series director on the Emmy award-winning Educating Yorkshire, other directing credits include One Born Every Minute and The Kid’s Speech as well as producing on Cage Fighting Women,The Fallen and Beautiful Young Minds
Sara Johnson is Vice President, Scripted Drama, Fox Networks Group (FNG) Europe & Africa. Responsible for the development and production slate for FOX channels across the region, FOX is the #1 entertainment channel globally. With over 20-years in the industry, Sara has significant experience in commissioning and production/co-production. Previous roles include Executive Producer & Head of Co-Production, Scripted Keshet UK, Head of Development/Executive Producer at La Plante Productions, spearheading new international co-production at NBC Universal and five years as Commissioning Editor, Drama and Comedy for Sky One.
Rachel has worked in BBC Entertainment Commissioning for three years during which she has been responsible for Our Friend Victoria for BBC1, Dragons’ Den for BBC2 and Asian Provocatuer: Mum’s American Dream for BBC3.
In the past 12 months she has commissioned Let It Shine for BBC1, David Walliams Celebrates Dame Shirley Bassey BBC1, Love in the Countryside for BBC2 and Junior Doctors for BBC3.
She is one of a number of commissioners who work to Controller of Entertainment Kate Philips
Elaine launched Crackit Productions in 2008 with a vision to create ground breaking television productions that would stimulate debate and generate headlines across the world. Under her command, Crackit has produced over 200 hours of award winning television shown across broadcasters and international boundaries including Save Money:Good Food (ITV 1), The Secret Life of the Hospital Bed (BBC One), Bad Habits (Channel 5), Katie Hopkins: My Fat Story (TLC) and Countdown To Murder (Channel 5) to name a few.
Prior to setting up Crackit, Elaine has held positions on the board of Endemol UK and was Managing Director of Brighter Pictures, overseeing programmes such as Big Brother at the height of the hype surrounding the show. Elaine prides herself in taking the time to source and nurture the very best on and off screen talent and has long been an advocate and mentor of the disabilities and race scheme CDN.
Guy Davies is Commissioning Editor, Factual at Channel 5, commissioning factual programming across the channel. Prior to this he was Head of Documentaries at ITN Productions.
At Channel 5 he has commissioned a diverse slate of peak time factual programming, including Rich House Poor House, Slum Britain: 50 Years On, The National Trust, The Great British Benefits Handout, Squaddies at 16 Raw Recruits, The Freddie Mercury Story, Going Underground: The Tube, Gangland, and Sarah Payne: A Mother’s Story
Future commissions include Michael Portillo’s Secret History Of Britain, Paddington Station, Inside the Sex Business and Yorkshire Housing (w/t) and the Channel’s Modern Britain documentary strand.
He was Senior Executive Producer at Wall to Wall from 2007-2009 and was a freelance Executive Producer for three years working for a range of companies including Blast! Films, Darlow Smithson, Firecracker and Wall to Wall, working for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery.
His most recent production credits include Executive Producer on the first series of 999: What’s Your Emergency for Channel 4, The Tube for BBC Two, I Shouldn’t Be Alive (Discovery/Animal Planet) Ohio Slave Girls (I.D).
From 1997-2007 he was Producer/Director, Series Producer and then Executive Producer at Hart Ryan Productions. After 10 successful years the company became part of Ten Alps in 2005.
Among awards he has received have been the BAFTA for Best Factual Series and The Grierson Award, for The Trust (Channel 4, 2003), Hart Ryan Productions for the Michael Powell Award for Best British Film (Gas Attack, Channel4), Broadcast and Indie Awards, and 3 Emmy nominations for the HBO/Channel 4 feature length documentary The Battle for Marjah (Wall to Wall, 2010).
As Senior Vice President, International Production & Development, Nina Hahn oversees international content development and co-production partnerships for Nickelodeon outside of the US.
Based in London, Hahn coordinates and drives the development process, spearheading new production models, managing productions from pilot through to series, and working in direct partnership with Nickelodeon’s content teams around the world. As part of this role, Hahn is responsible for internationally sourced productions, aligning Nickelodeon’s global production and development pipeline, representing Nickelodeon US’s production and development interests abroad and identifying resources and expertise to drive creative partnerships and cultivate talent. As the main international production and development conduit for Nickelodeon’s channels, Hahn also ensures the cultural relevancy of all Nickelodeon production and development for global broadcast.
Hahn also works in direct partnership with Nickelodeon in the UK to source content from UK independent producers for potential global production and development.
Hahn is an industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience in creating and producing content for kids. Since joining Nickelodeon in 2005, Hahn has been the driving force behind establishing the brand as a core international hub for creators and talent. Hahn oversees the production and development of Nickelodeon’s hit series, House of Anubis which is now entering its third season on Nick’s channels around the world.
Prior to joining Nickelodeon, Hahn worked as an independent producer and development consultant for some of the world’s leading kids content producers and broadcasters in New York, including HBO and Jim Henson Productions.
Craig Hunter is the lead Commissioning Editor for Science for the BBC. His titles range from Live TV events: ‘Wild Alaska Live’ and ‘Big Blue Live’ to Social Experiments: ‘The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs’, ‘What’s the right diet for you.’ Specialist Factual Formats: ‘Inside the Factory’, ‘Trust Me I’m A Doctor’, Documentary series: ‘How to stay Young,’ the Truth About strand and competition formats: ‘Astronauts: Do you have what it takes?
Craig is also the lead commissioner for Factual in Scotland.
Jeff Pope is an award-winning writer for Film and Television. Film credits include PIERREPOINT: THE LAST HANGMAN (Timothy Spall); ESSEX BOYS (Sean Bean, Tom Wilkinson); the critically acclaimed PHILOMENA (Judi Dench, Steve Coogan) for which Jeff picked up Golden Globe, BIFA and London Critics Circle nominations and BAFTA and Venice Film Festival wins for Best Adapted Screenplay; and STAN AND OLLIE (John C. Reilly, Steve Coogan, Danny Huston) which is currently in post-production.
TV work includes BAFTA-winning ITV drama MRS BIGGS (Sheridan Smith), the multi-award winning DIRTY, FILTHY LOVE; CILLA (Sheridan Smith) and LUCAN (Rory Kinnear). As a producer, Jeff has helmed a number of award-winning dramas including MO, a bio-pic based on the life of politician Mo Mowlam, the BAFTA winning SEE NO EVIL – THE MOORS MURDERS; APPROPRIATE ADULT (Dominic West, Emily Watson), which earned five BAFTA awards as well as a Golden Globe nomination and, most recently, acclaimed BBC1 drama THE MOORSIDE and ITV drama LITTLE BOY BLUE.
Morwenna is Commissioning Editor for Comedy at Sky. She joined the team in 2014 and her focus is on developing and commissioning shows for Sky 1 and Sky Arts. Her recent shows include Mount Pleasant, Yonderland and the Sky Arts Urban Myth: Samuel Beckett and Andre the Giant. She’s also commissioned 5 series of comedy shorts starring the likes of Liam Williams, Vicki Pepperdine, Ellie White, Guz Khan, Steen Raskopoulos, Freddie Flintoff, Nick Mohammed, Katherine Ryan, Jayde Adams, Spencer Jones, Matt Holness and Jamie Demetriou.
Fatima Salaria is the Commissioning Editor for Religion and Ethics at the BBC. Her recent commissions have included the critically acclaimed David Olusoga, Black and British – a Forgotten History, the BAFTA winning Muslims Like Us and programmes in the recent Partition moment. A highly experienced programme maker, past credits, including producing and directing BBC2’s controversial series The Riots: In Their Own Words, The 70’s with Dominic Sandbrook, The Normans with Robert Bartlett, Britons Jihadi Brides and the Bafta-winning series History Of Modern Britain with Andrew Marr.
Nasfim Haque joined BBC Wales as a production trainee in 2002 before directing her first film for BBC Three’s Fresh scheme. She then moved on to BBC Birmingham and Manchester Vision studios to help develop factual and feature ideas such as Hairy Bakers, Indian Food Made Easy and The Satanic Verses Affair for BBC Two.
Having worked as a producer at companies such as Two Four, Love and Century Films, Nasfim was selected for the Creative Diversity Network commissioner development scheme. She spent 12-months at Channel 4 as Commissioning Executive within their documentaries team helping to commission new directors and look after returning series.
After joining BBC Three as Deputy Editor in 2016, Nasfim was soon appointed Short-form Commissioner earlier this year where she is responsible for a range of content from indies.
She has previously worked at BBC Wales and BBC Media Action on multi-platform shorts, and last summer helped set up ‘Woke’ – a globally conscious Facebook news site.
Simon Young is the commissioning lead for History at the BBC. Before taking up his present position, Simon was Senior Director of Production and Development at National Geographic, and prior to that he worked in independent TV production in the UK. During this time, Simon was the Executive Producer of the headline-grabbing documentaries about the discovery of King Richard III, including the BAFTA-nominated and RTS-winning film “The King in the Car Park”. During his career he has worked as a writer, producer and director for both US and British broadcasters.
Anne Mensah was appointed Head of Drama for the entertainment channels in 2011. Over the past six years, Anne has led the growth of original drama on Sky including the critically acclaimed Enfield Haunting, Fortitude starring Michael Gambon and Dennis Quaid and Guerrilla, written and directed by Academy award winner John Ridley. She is also responsible for commissioning some of Sky’s biggest ever original commissions – such as Delicious starring Dawn French and Emilia Fox and Riviera starring Julia Stiles. Upcoming dramas include Tin Star starring Tim Roth and Melrose starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
Prior to joining Sky, Anne spent 10 years at the BBC where she was latterly Head of Independent Drama as well as Head of Drama for BBC Scotland. Whilst at the BBC, Anne commissioned and worked with the very best in British drama to produce an impressive array of hits across the BBC channels. This includes the multi award winning Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh; Waterloo Road; Case Histories starring Jason Issacs; Zen starring Rufus Sewell and God on Trial with Stephen Dillane, Dominic Cooper, Stellan Skarsgard and Sir Anthony Sher.
Rachel is a commissioning editor in the comedy department at Channel 4. Previously Rachel was producing comedy at Objective productions for shows such as ‘Toast of London’ co-written by and starring Matt Berry and Father Ted’s Arthur Mathews and at Bwark where she produced comedy TV and radio shows.
At Channel 4 Rachel commissioned Chewing Gum written by and starring Michaela Coel, ‘Crashing’ by award winning Phoebe Waller-bridge:, multi award winning Toast of London, Black Mirror Christmas special, Jessika Knappet’s Drifters, Stephen Mangan’s Hang-ups, Roisin Conaty: ‘GameFace’, a new series called Lee and Dean and Dead Pixels written by award winning Jon Brown.
Amanda Stavri
Commissioning Editor, Comedy & Entertainment for ITV
Amanda Stavri is Commissioning Editor, Comedy & Entertainment for ITV. She’s currently working across shows including Little Big Shots, This Time Next Year and The British Soap Awards, as well as Love Island, TOWIE and The Real Housewives of Cheshire on ITV’s digital channels. Previously, an executive producer, she worked in factual entertainment, across shows including Come Dine with Me, The Mirror’s Pride of Britain Awards and reality shows, Temptation Island, Peter Andre : My Life and Jean Claude Van Damme : Behind Closed Doors.
Faith Penhale
CEO and Creative Director
Lookout Point
Faith began her career in drama over 20 years ago and has worked on a wide range of shows: from multi award-winning espionage series Spooks, a BAFTA winning era of EastEnders, and while Head of Drama at BBC Wales, Sherlock and Doctor Who. More recently Faith executive produced Andrew Davies’ critically acclaimed and BAFTA-nominated adaptation of War and Peace and Sally Wainwright’s To Walk Invisible. At Lookout Point Faith is producing Press by Mike Bartlett, Andrew Davies’ adaptations of Les Misérables and A Suitable Boy, as well as Sally Wainwright’s upcoming show, Gentleman Jack.
Stuart Woodward trained as an accountant, before joining film sales agent, Capitol Films, in 2002. In 2005 he joined the film finance team at Bank of Ireland before side stepping into the Media team in 2008 where he helped structure finance for production companies such as Shine, Shed, RDF and Tinopolis. Since 2012 Stuart has been relationship manager with the Bank Leumi media team, providing film and television project finance and corporate facilities for producers and distributors internationally
Piers Wenger was appointed Controller of BBC Drama in 2016. Prior to this he was Head of Drama at Channel 4 from 2012, and Head of Drama at BBC Wales from 2008 where he was an executive producer on the hugely successful reboot of Doctor Who where he cast Matt Smith into the lead role.
As a producer, he closely collaborated with the late Victoria Wood over a decade on her dramatic projects. He produced her BAFTA and RTS award winning dramatization of Nella Last’s diary Housewife, 49, collaborated with her on Loving Miss Hatto, Wood’s dramatization of the life of the life of classical pianist Joyce Hatto and co-executive produced Eric and Eric, Peter Bowker’s biopic of the young Morecambe and Wise in which Wood also starred.
At Channel 4, he has spear-headed the launch of a number of popular and award-winning drama series. In February 2015, Indian Summers, a period drama chronicling the last years of British imperial rule in India launched and recorded the highest overnight drama audience for a C4 drama in 20 years. No Offence, Paul Abbott’s anarchic police procedural launched strongly later in the same year and won the Royal Television Society Award for best drama series. While Humans, Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley’s sci-fi series, a co-production with AMC, became a significant rating hit breaking the record set by Indian Summers earlier in the year. Topical mini-series also feature strongly in C4’s current drama slate from Tony Grisoni’s BAFTA winning Southcliffe to Jack Thorne’s forthcoming mini-series about Operation Yewtree entitled National Treasure, starring Robbie Coltrane, Andrea Riseborough and Julie Walters as well as Peter Kosminsky’s The State, which tells the story of four radicalized Brits who travel to Syria to live as a part of Islamic state.
While at the BBC he was responsible for commissioning Tom Stoppard’s Parade’s End and Kevin Elyot’s dramatization of the life of Christopher Isherwood, Christopher and His Kind.
Morwenna is Commissioning Editor for Comedy at Sky. She joined the team in 2014 and her focus is on developing and commissioning shows for Sky 1 and Sky Arts. Her recent shows include Mount Pleasant, Yonderland and the Sky Arts Urban Myth: Samuel Beckett and Andre the Giant. She’s also commissioned 5 series of comedy shorts starring the likes of Liam Williams, Vicki Pepperdine, Ellie White, Guz Khan, Steen Raskopoulos, Freddie Flintoff, Nick Mohammed, Katherine Ryan, Jayde Adams, Spencer Jones, Matt Holness and Jamie Demetriou.
Cheryl is the Controller of CBBC – the BBC’s dedicated channel for 6-12 year old children. She commissions all the content for television and online.
Cheryl took up the role in 2012 and has commissioned Jamie Johnson, The Dog Ate my Homework, Millie Inbetween, Hetty Feather, Got What it Takes, Pets Factor, So Awkward, All at Sea, Hank Zipzer, Eve, Diddy TV, Ultimate Brain, Art Ninja, Class Dismissed, and Our School.
Before coming to CBBC Cheryl was Controller of Comedy for the BBC, and previous roles include BBC’s Executive Editor for Out of London Comedy Commissioning and Head of Comedy at Hat Trick Productions
Genre
Non scripted Entertainment and Factual Entertainment idea for Sky 1 ( No Factual or doc ideas please ) and performance focussed ideas for Sky Arts featuring the very best talent.
Slots
Idea dependent
Looking for
Distinctively different ideas that will drive talkability, that feel ‘real world’ in tone.
Credits
SKY 1: Wild Things, Freddie Fries Again, Sing: Ultimate A Cappella, Revolution
SKY ARTS: Portrait and Landscape Artist of the Year, Passions season, Tate Britain’s Great British Walks, Treasures of The British Library
Genre
Features
Slots
8pm, 9pm & 10pm C4 series. Some singles. Events.
Looking for
Really keen to find fresh approaches to features programming. New territories to explore and imaginative approaches to our storytelling. Definitely want exciting, noisy returnable formats and of course always very open to seeing top new talent. Less keen on stuff that’s too similar to the things we already have.
Some of our Shows
Married At First Sight; Animal Rescue Live; Grand Designs; How To Lose Weight Well; Food Unwrapped; Location Location Location
Genre
Specialist Factual
Slots
Singles, Series
Looking for
brilliant ideas for popular series that say something new about the present; new and diverse talent; standout singles
Credits
I haven’t got my own commissions yet – but have overseen Pop, Pride and Prejudice; When Football Banned Women
Genre
Factual Entertainment
Slots
Series, Specials
Looking for
big, ambitious returnable formats
Credits
n/a (I’ve only just started). But previous credits include Head of TV, UK Syco Entertainment
Genre
Factual Entertainment
Slots
series, events, stunts for 9pm and 8pm.
Looking for
Looking for big 9pm ideas… entertainment shows with factual purpose
They need to have scale and ambition
Open to any shape… strips, one off stunts, events etc.
All ideas need to feel broad, relatable and universal
And they all need to be entertaining with factual content delivered by stealth
Credits
Easyjet, Call the cleaners, Ibiza Weekender, Dress To Impress, Heathrow, Sugar Free Farm, The Cruise
Genre
Scripted Comedy, Sketch Comedy, Short Form Comedy and Animated Comedy
Slots
Singles, long and short from series.
Looking for
Content makers from the digital world, writer/performers, new comedy writers and directors.
Credits
BBC Three Life Lessons (12 x 3mins), Coconut (10 x 7mins), Chinese Burn (23 min sitcom pilot) and new Sketch Show for BBC 2 Famalam.
After more than 20 years as a producer in the indie sector, Barbara joined Sky five years ago as a Commissioning Editor working in Entertainment and Arts.
She worked with a variety of indies such as Hatrick, Tiger Aspect, Whizzkid and CPL she specialised in studio entertainment, comedy and factual programmes for all terrestrial broadcasters.
In her role as Commissioner, Barbara looks after A League of Their Own, ALOTO Roadtrip and new series Carmageddon for Sky 1. She commissions a lot of music content for Sky Arts including Brian Johnson’s A Life on The Road, Tony Visconti’s Unsigned Heroes and the documentary series Rock and Roll.
Barbara is looking to meet
Inspiring and imaginative entertainment and fact-ent producers, with original, multi-part series, formats and ideas.
Brief for delegates
At Sky 1 (our premier entertainment channel ) it’s about entertainment and factual entertainment formats of scale, with a unique and captivating central premise. As a subscription channel, our shows need to feel distinctly Sky.
The Three Areas of focus are
Of course we are also looking for something unique and unusual – something to get people talking. It’s always better if something feels like it exists in the real world and has authenticity rather than feeling forced for telly. We aren’t ruling out dating if the right format should come along.
Comedy Ents (half hours at 10pm). We’ve got an eye out for something uniquely funny and startling. We’ll always eventually ask “who’s in this though?” but for starters we’d just like to see something that makes us laugh – is unashamedly daft, immensely shareable on social and laugh out loud funny.
What We Aren’t Looking For
We aren’t looking for factual series or one-off docs – and no “authored journeys” at this stage. I’d say don’t pitch a singing show as we have one in production and one in development already.
We don’t want studio gameshows either. In general always think of making a shiny floor a bit less shiny.
In general – we can have some grit in the oyster – we want to be grown up, and have a bit more of attitude – we can be a little more male (or at least not off-putting for men).
Please be ambitious – we want a million people to be watching the shows, so if you think your idea has that potential and the potential to get people talking then we are all ears – if it sits in the middle somewhere then it won’t be for us.
At Sky Arts, our audience is 50+, culturally curious, and engaged with the broad church of arts. We commission a wide range of content; from competitive formats e.g. Portrait Artist of the Year and Masters of Photography, rock series with incredible access as well as opera and theatrical productions. We are always on the lookout for fantastic access into worlds that will appeal to our audience.
Genre:
Factual
Slots:
8pm, 9pm and 10pm – Returnable series
Looking for:
Documentary ideas with exceptional access or mainstream popular factual series with a Channel 5 twist.
Credits:
Nightmare Neighbours, World’s Greatest Bridges, The Butcher Surgeon.
Genre:
ITV – Entertainment
ITV2 – Youth skewing comedy entertainment
ITVBe – Female skewed, glossy & aspirational reality
Slots:
ITV – Series, strips and specials
ITV2 – Series, specials
ITVBe – Series, specials
Looking for:
ITV – Distinct entertainment propositions, surprising talent, returnable formats, stripped events, one-off events
ITV2 – Purer comedy entertainment formats, gameshows and panel shows
ITVBe – Celeb access reality specials & series, cast-led reality propositions
Credits:
My slate includes:
ITV – Little Big Shots, This Time Next Year, Five Gold Rings
ITV2 – Love Island
ITVBe – TOWIE, Real Housewives of Cheshire, Sam Faiers: The Mummy Diaries
As Commissioning Editor, Factual at ITV, Priya oversees a broad mix of programmes in peak from features and fact ent formats, consumer through to documentaries such as Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs, Gino’s Italian Escapes, Love Your Garden and the Save Money consumer brand.
Prior to joining the commissioning team, Priya’s previous roles have included Controller of Scheduling ITV and Head of Scheduling CBBC and CBeebies at the BBC.
Appointed Head of Drama in 2016, Beth Willis joined Channel 4 as Deputy Head of Drama in 2012. During that time she has worked across the BAFTA-nominated Humans, Ackley Bridge, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, BAFTA and RTS-winning National Treasure, No Offence, Born to Kill and This is England 90. Forthcoming series include Peter Kosminsky’s The State, epic anthology series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, Beau Willimon’s The First, and for E4 The End of the F***ing World and Kiss Me First. Previously Beth produced the Ashes to Ashes for Kudos/BBC, served as Executive Producer on Doctor Who and co-executive produced Eric and Ernie.
