9 January 2023 - Hilary Rosen, UKTV's Director of Commissioning has announced today that Helen Nightingale and Mark Iddon have been promoted to Head of Factual and Factual Entertainment and Senior Commissioner for Comedy Entertainment respectively.
Helen and Mark will report to Hilary, with Helen overseeing all factual and factual entertainment commissions across the network, and Mark leading on the comedy entertainment genre. Mark will also oversee the hiring of a new Commissioning Executive for comedy entertainment, who will take ownership of digital short form content and podcasts alongside linear titles.
Rosen said,
Helen and Mark are both brilliant champions for their respective genres so it is fantastic to be able to start 2023 by sharing this news. I have no doubt that they will continue to commission innovative and engaging series of the highest quality and strengthen UKTV's reputation for making unique and unmissable content.
Helen said,
I've had an absolute blast working at UKTV and now I'm very much looking forward to heading up the Factual and Fact Ent team and working with the talented commissioners. We have a fantastic slate and I'm excited about growing that as we continue to collaborate with producers to get the very best, most ambitious ideas to our channels.
Mark said,
I'm looking forward to taking the reins of comedy entertainment at UKTV as we continue to be a home for the best talent to come and do their best stuff.
Since joining UKTV in 2015 as Commissioning Editor, Helen has executive produced shows across the network and has commissioned the award-winning Emma Willis: Delivering Babies and Women On The Force for W, French and Saunders: Funny Women for Gold and Hornby A Model World for Yesterday, and was promoted to Senior Commissioning Editor in 2018.
Prior to joining UKTV, Helen was Head of Factual at Gogglebox Entertainment where she executive produced Singing In The Rainforest for Watch and Young War Widows for ITV. Before that, she was Head of Popular Factual at IWC Media executive producing shows such as Location, Location, Location for Channel 4, Extreme Fishing with Robson Green and Rory and Paddy's Great British Adventure for Channel 5.
Since joining UKTV as Commissioning Editor in 2020, Mark has helped keep UKTV at the forefront of comedy entertainment, developing fresh formats and ideas to attract the next generation of talent and comedy-lovers to Dave. His credits to date include Comedians Giving Lectures, Late Night Mash, Outsiders and Live At The Moth Club.
Prior to joining UKTV, Mark worked at Avalon where he spent most of his career as a producer and series producer working on shows including Russell Howard's Good News, Unspun with Matt Forde and Rob Delaney's Stand Up Central. Before joining Avalon he worked as a development producer at BBC Multiplatform Studio, consulting and developing television and online projects across BBC Drama, Factual, Comedy and Entertainment.
Helen and Mark assume their new responsibilities from the beginning of January.
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For further information please contact:
Kerry Goode, Director of Communications, UKTV
Rebecca Ferris, Corporate Communications Manager, UKTV
About UKTV
UKTV has been at the forefront of branded television for over 25 years, entertaining the nation with programmes they love. Its leading brands - Dave, Gold, W, Drama, Alibi, Eden and Yesterday - span comedy, entertainment, natural history, factual and drama, and are delivered to audiences through UKTV Play, Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView, Freesat and Amazon Fire. The broadcaster is a significant investor in British creativity and is committed to working with new and established writers, directors and programme-makers.
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