LEADERSHIP TEAM
Ralph Lee
Director of Content
Ralph is responsible for BBC Studios Productions' creative and editorial strategies in the UK. With ...25 years’ experience in the UK TV sector he was formerly Acting Chief Creative Officer at Channel 4 overseeing a run of hits including Gogglebox, First Dates and Educating Yorkshire.
Lisa Opie
Managing Director, UK Productions
Lisa is responsible for delivering our business plan and commercial strategy and is accountable for ...risk and business management. She was previously MD of Factual Production, leading the teams responsible for producing award-winning programmes like Blue Planet II and Killed By My Debt.
Hannah Wyatt
Managing Director, Factual Entertainment and Events
Hannah oversees the creative, commercial and operational strategy for the Factual Entertainment and ...Events production. This includes the Events and Factual Entertainment teams. She also oversees development of new factual entertainment formats to ensure the continued creative growth of IP in this key genre.
Josh Cole
Head of Comedy
Josh is Head of Comedy at BBC Studios, overseeing a slate of multi-award-winning programmes includin...g Good Omens, Inside No. 9 and Trying. Previously Josh worked as commissioning editor at Sky where he was Executive Producer on the BAFTA award-winning Sally4Ever, Breeders and Two Weeks To Live. Josh’s producer credits include Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Crashing, Timewasters and Cockroaches.
Kate Oates
Head of Continuing Drama
Kate began working for Carlton TV as a script editor. She went on to produce BBC Radio 4’s The Arche...rs before going back into TV as Story Editor on ITV’s Emmerdale. She has series produced both Emmerdale and Coronation Street. Kate has been Head of Continuing Drama at BBC Studios since March 2019.
Priscilla Parish
Head of Drama
Priscilla joined BBC Studios in 2019 from World Productions where she was Executive Producer and Hea...d of Development. She developed Jed Mercurio's award-winning and ratings smash, Bodyguard, four series of Line of Duty, factual drama Code of a Killer for ITV and The Secret Agent for BBC One.
Suzy Lamb
Managing Director, Entertainment and Music
Suzy joined BBC Studios in April 2018. She is responsible for Entertainment and Music productions as... well as leading the development and commercial growth strategy. Prior to this, she was Head of Entertainment at Thames, launching huge, international brands including Take Me Out (ITV). An award-winning executive producer, Suzy has also worked in the U.S. as showrunner on multiple NBC commissions.
Tom McDonald
Managing Director, Factual
Tom oversees the Factual portfolio and is responsible for the Documentary, Science & Natural History... units. Between them, they have over 70 titles currently in production for 18 different platforms. Previously he was in BBC commissioning as Head of Specialist Factual where his department's commissions included BAFTA winners Planet Earth II, Blue Planet II, Yorkshire Ripper Files, Muslims Like Us and returners such as Inside The Factory, Surgeons and A House Through Time.
Joanna Rwama
Commercial Finance Director
Joanna oversees commercial activity across all Production Brands. Prior to this she was Head of Fina...nce at BBC Studios for Factual Entertainment and Events, and Entertainment and Music, and before that she worked as the finance lead for investments and acquisitions of independent production companies.
Lisa Hardy
Head of HR
Lisa is responsible for the People agenda at BBC Studios Productions, leading a team of HR professio...nals to drive HR activity across all our genres. Focused on all elements of the HR strategy, Lisa works with the team to ensure we provide the most creative and diverse environment for our people to succeed. Before BBC Studios, Lisa has many years' experience as an HR leader working across multiple industries.
Helen Pendlebury
Director of Business Development
Helen leads our business development, focusing on new content opportunities including digital origin...als, podcasts, ad-funded programming and branded content. She previously headed up our formats and live events business in Australia and New Zealand, looking after local versions of popular BBC formats including Dancing with the Stars, Mastermind and Coast. She has also held the roles of Controller Multiplatform Solutions at ITV, and Interactive Editor across BBC Radio 1, 2 & 6 Music.
Philip Fleming
Senior Head of Communications
Phil has over 20 years’ experience in UK and global PR and media relations management honed in the a...irline, publishing, broadcast and media industries. He leads a team of communications managers and publicists responsible for all BBC Studios Productions and Brands external communications.
Roger Leatham
Director of Business Affairs
Roger runs the Legal and Business Affairs teams for production in the UK and internationally, managi...ng teams throughout Studios’ bases across the UK and in EMEA, APAC and the USA. The teams negotiate talent deals, development and commissioning agreements, clear rights and provide general production support.
Melissa Clay-Peters
Senior Head of Talent
Melissa has 25 years’ experience working in both production and off-screen talent management in the ...independent sector. She heads up the Studios Talent team and looks to attract a broad range of creative and ambitious people to help us develop the very best content and bring new perspectives to the business.
Vinnie Shergill
Head of Creative Diversity
Vinnie is a highly experienced and versatile creative who started her career in news production befo...re moving to work on a variety of talent-led content. She won a BAFTA for Best Entertainment Programme for her work on Strictly Come Dancing for BBC One. Vinnie has a wealth of talent relations experience and is never short of ideas! She now leads on the delivery of BBC Studios’ on-air creative diversity and inclusion strategies. Recently, she developed and implemented our “Inclusion Rider” and set up a mentoring partnership with ScreenSkills.
Fiona Hill
Head of Business
As Head of Business, Fiona sits at the heart of Productions evaluating commercial opportunities and ...shaping business practice. Her strategic insight is invaluable to Productions success. An experienced consultant, Fiona has led a range of high-profile projects for Studio and blue-chip clients including Warner, Disney, Apple and Amazon.
Kevin McCormick
Director of Production Operations, Scotland
Kevin oversees our production activity and manages our key relationships in Scotland and Northern Ir...eland as well as working on projects across production in the UK. Kevin has nearly 30 years’ experience in production, business, finance and project management roles within the industry.
Sally Mills
Head of Operations
Sally manages the services which are core to the operation of our business, is our sustainability le...ad and champions mandatory training. She combines her legal background with strong operation and commercial experience and has been in the BBC for 18 years.
Siân O’Callaghan
Director of Production Operations, Wales
Siân leads a thriving production base at Roath Lock, managing key relationships for BBC Studios in W...ales. She sits on the Global Leadership Group and BBC Wales’ Executive Team. With 20 years’ production experience, Siân has held senior editorial roles and relocated BBC teams to a new HQ in Cardiff.