Exclusive: The race to replace Ralph Lee at the helm of BBC Studios Productions is underway, with the studio signaling its ambition by approaching some of the UK’s top unscripted executives.
Lee will step down as the CEO of BBC Studios Productions next month after a six-year stint to “pursue a new challenge” but Deadline is told that headhunter Russell Reynolds Associates is already scoping out successors.
The successful candidate will run a production unit that contributed heavily to BBC Studios’ £1.6B ($2B) content revenue last year, overseeing hits including Good Omens, Strictly Come Dancing, and David Attenborough’s natural history tentpoles.
Deadline understands that Russell Reynolds has held tentative early conversations with potential candidates including Stv Studios managing director David Mortimer, ITV Studios unscripted director Angela Jain and Karl Warner, Channel 4’s outgoing head of youth and digital.
Fatima Salaria, who previously ran The Apprentice producer Naked,...
Lee will step down as the CEO of BBC Studios Productions next month after a six-year stint to “pursue a new challenge” but Deadline is told that headhunter Russell Reynolds Associates is already scoping out successors.
The successful candidate will run a production unit that contributed heavily to BBC Studios’ £1.6B ($2B) content revenue last year, overseeing hits including Good Omens, Strictly Come Dancing, and David Attenborough’s natural history tentpoles.
Deadline understands that Russell Reynolds has held tentative early conversations with potential candidates including Stv Studios managing director David Mortimer, ITV Studios unscripted director Angela Jain and Karl Warner, Channel 4’s outgoing head of youth and digital.
Fatima Salaria, who previously ran The Apprentice producer Naked,...
- 3/14/2024
- by Max Goldbart and Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Another two senior execs at The Apprentice UK producer Naked have exited – commercial boss Tamara Howe and Head of Formats Cam de la Huerta.
The Fremantle label also saw its factual entertainment chief James Lessell leave earlier this year to set up an indie, while MD Fatima Salaria left at the start of 2023.
In an all-staff email, Naked MD Tom O’Brien said Howe “leaves Naked in a better place” after a three-year stint as Director of Commercial and Operations, while de la Huerta was thanked for “passion and hard work.”
Howe is an experienced and well-liked exec, who was previously MD of Vice TV Emea. Prior to that, she spent 13 years in various senior roles for the BBC, including Controller of Business for the comedy and entertainment team.
She joined Naked on a three-month contract in 2020 following its merger with Fremantle stablemate Boundless “but became indispensable for us all...
The Fremantle label also saw its factual entertainment chief James Lessell leave earlier this year to set up an indie, while MD Fatima Salaria left at the start of 2023.
In an all-staff email, Naked MD Tom O’Brien said Howe “leaves Naked in a better place” after a three-year stint as Director of Commercial and Operations, while de la Huerta was thanked for “passion and hard work.”
Howe is an experienced and well-liked exec, who was previously MD of Vice TV Emea. Prior to that, she spent 13 years in various senior roles for the BBC, including Controller of Business for the comedy and entertainment team.
She joined Naked on a three-month contract in 2020 following its merger with Fremantle stablemate Boundless “but became indispensable for us all...
- 12/7/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
The latest Naked and Afraid spinoff is raising the stakes. Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing takes 12 of the toughest competitors from past seasons of the Discovery Channel reality show and drops them in South Africa’s punishing Oribi Gorge. The contestants will face off in a multiphase challenge that will test their survival skills as they compete to win a $100,000 grand prize.
‘Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing’ competition explained
Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing is a grueling, 45-day competition. It unfolds in three phases, with rules and twists unlike any before seen on the show.
The challenge begins in phase one, when pairs of survivalists must fight to last 21 days in the wilderness. Each pair will have to hunt for food, water, fire, and shelter. But in a Naked and Afraid first, they’ll also have to earn the tools they need to survive, which are cached in the surrounding environment.
‘Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing’ competition explained
Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing is a grueling, 45-day competition. It unfolds in three phases, with rules and twists unlike any before seen on the show.
The challenge begins in phase one, when pairs of survivalists must fight to last 21 days in the wilderness. Each pair will have to hunt for food, water, fire, and shelter. But in a Naked and Afraid first, they’ll also have to earn the tools they need to survive, which are cached in the surrounding environment.
- 5/7/2023
- by Megan Elliott
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Exclusive: Fremantle is planning to once again merge Britain’s Got Talent producer Thames with Talkback under a restructure that will be unveiled in the coming months.
Deadline understands plans are being drawn up to consolidate Fremantle’s UK entertainment labels, with the coming together of the two stalwart British production houses a strong possibility. The Apprentice producer Naked, which was merged with Fremantle stablemate Boundless in 2020, could also be brought within the newly-merged entity.
If rubberstamped, Deadline understands a label boss will be hired to oversee the new Talkback Thames shingle and a redundancy process will likely take place. We revealed late last month that Thames MD Amelia Brown is exiting after two decades to set up her own production company, while Naked MD Fatima Salaria is also departing shortly.
If the plans are pushed through, the move will be the third time Thames has been combined with Talkback. They...
Deadline understands plans are being drawn up to consolidate Fremantle’s UK entertainment labels, with the coming together of the two stalwart British production houses a strong possibility. The Apprentice producer Naked, which was merged with Fremantle stablemate Boundless in 2020, could also be brought within the newly-merged entity.
If rubberstamped, Deadline understands a label boss will be hired to oversee the new Talkback Thames shingle and a redundancy process will likely take place. We revealed late last month that Thames MD Amelia Brown is exiting after two decades to set up her own production company, while Naked MD Fatima Salaria is also departing shortly.
If the plans are pushed through, the move will be the third time Thames has been combined with Talkback. They...
- 2/7/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Brian Tyree Henry is an actor who carved his initials into some of Hollywood's biggest stories, including an as yet brief stint in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as an inventive godlike figure in "Eternals." In 2022 alone, he starred in two films that couldn't be more different, Sony's ensemble action comedy "Bullet Train" and the Apple TV+ drama "Causeway," a traumatic story also starring Jennifer Lawrence. In nearly every project that he features, Henry is a noted stand out who goes the extra mile, with our own "Causeway" reviewer Chris Evangelista describing his performance as one varnished in a "warm, looming presence" and brimming with "slow, methodical ... pregnant pauses that seem to say more than the words themselves."
That's why it's funny, almost dissonant, to imagine his abilities blending with anything related to "South Park," and yet, that's exactly what happened back in 2011. Early in Henry's career, the actor took...
That's why it's funny, almost dissonant, to imagine his abilities blending with anything related to "South Park," and yet, that's exactly what happened back in 2011. Early in Henry's career, the actor took...
- 12/1/2022
- by Cameron Roy Hall
- Slash Film
Emily Maitlis, one of the most respected British news broadcasters of the past two decades and the notorious Prince Andrew Newsnight interviewer, is to deliver this year’s prestigious James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival.
Former Newsnight host Maitlis’ address, which will focus on the role TV has to play in speaking truth to power, will be her first since leaving the BBC as she prepares to front a Global podcast with former BBC North America Correspondent Jon Sopel.
The multi-award-winning Maitlis is one of the most established British TV news faces of the past two decades, working for a number of networks, mainly the BBC, fronting popular podcasts and interviewing presidents, prime ministers, Hollywood A-listers and business leaders.
She is known for her thorough interviewing style and an in-depth knowledge of a whole range of issues. Perhaps her best moment came during the 2019 Prince Andrew interview...
Former Newsnight host Maitlis’ address, which will focus on the role TV has to play in speaking truth to power, will be her first since leaving the BBC as she prepares to front a Global podcast with former BBC North America Correspondent Jon Sopel.
The multi-award-winning Maitlis is one of the most established British TV news faces of the past two decades, working for a number of networks, mainly the BBC, fronting popular podcasts and interviewing presidents, prime ministers, Hollywood A-listers and business leaders.
She is known for her thorough interviewing style and an in-depth knowledge of a whole range of issues. Perhaps her best moment came during the 2019 Prince Andrew interview...
- 8/9/2022
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.