BBC Studios Science Unit is a BAFTA and Emmy award-winning production company. We combine the greatest factual storytellers, unrivalled production values and specialist factual knowledge, to tell stories that reach the four corners of the planet.
KEY TITLES
Our Team
Andrew Cohen
Head of the Science Unit
Andrew Cohen is head of the award-winning Science Unit with teams based in London and Glasgow, produ...cing hit shows for broadcasters around the world including the BBC, Netflix, Nat Geo, Discovery, Channel 4 and Channel 5. A BAFTA and Emmy award winning Executive Producer he is responsible for a wide range of premium documentaries, recent credits include Our Universe, The Anthrax Attacks and The Surgeon’s Cut (Netflix), The Planets, Universe and 8 Days: To the Moon and Back (BBC) He has won numerous awards including Emmy, BAFTA, Grierson Awards, RTS, Broadcasting Press Guild, Peabody and BANFF and is also the co-author of eight best-selling science books.
Laura Davey
Head of Production
Laura has over 20 years’ experience in the TV industry, overseeing all aspects of production from co...mmission and funding to delivery. Recent credits include The Wonders box set, Stargazing Live, Trust Me I’m a Doctor, Horizon, 8 Days and The Planets.
Nicola Cook
Director of Development, The Science Unit
Nicola runs The Science Unit’s development slate, creating ideas for clients from the BBC to Netflix.... Commissions include landmark The Planets, documentary feature 8 Days and factual theatre Fatberg Autopsy and The Edge of Science. Before this she spent over 15 years as a series producer and director.
Krish Thind
Commercial and Business Development Manager
Krish has been working with the BBC Studios Science Unit for 4 years, facilitating and negotiating a... wide range of commercial deals for the unit. Working closely alongside development and production teams she brings together programme financing and co-production partners as well as seeking new opportunities and exploring innovative commercial models. Prior to joining BBC Studios, she spent 15 years working in roles across the music industry.
Gideon Bradshaw
Executive Producer
Gideon is producing the spectacular follow up to 2019’s ‘The Planets’ with Professor Brian Cox for B...BC/PBS and an intriguing new feature doc on human evolution for Netflix. His varied career has seen him produce interactive TV, an IMAX film, and multiple series with global scale and ambition across subjects as diverse as food science, particle physics, and cosmology. He has been recognised with prizes from Peabody, the RTS, Grierson nominations, and a BAFTA nomination for Best Factual Director.
Steve Crabtree
Executive Producer
Steve Crabtree is an award-winning BBC Studios Executive Producer who has worked across a wide range... of prime-time science, history, arts and business programmes – often with international co-producers and commercial partners. Steve – a former Series Editor of BBC Flagship science strand Horizon (where he was responsible for commissioning and executively producing around 70 episodes) has most recently been working closely with Chinese platform bilibili on a three-part series called Rendezvous with the Future exploring the science behind the international science-fiction bestseller The Three Body Problem with Chinese author Cixin Liu. Before a career in television Steve painted nuclear submarines. Mostly black.
Andrew Downey
Head of Commercial, Rights & Business Affairs, Science & Documentary
Andrew has over 20 years’ experience of production and commissioning business affairs in the BBC and... BBC Studios supporting, at various times, Science, Docs, Arts, the NHU, News and Currents Affairs and Learning. Since Studios inception he has led on Production’s contractual relationships with several major SVOD clients and managed the Factual business affairs team in London and, more recently, Glasgow
Alexandra Feachem
Executive Producer
Alexandra Feachem is a multi-award winning Audio Executive Producer in BBC Studio’s Science Unit. S...he is the co-creator and producer of BBC Radio 4’s long running hit science/comedy show and podcast “The Infinite Monkey Cage” which is routinely in the top 10 for all UK podcasts. It has won numerous awards including a Rose d’OR, Sony Gold, Chortle Award and a Royal Society Prize for Best Science Radio. She has nearly 25 years experience of producing high profile, award winning audio for both BBC Radio 4 and the World Service including Crowd Science, Leading Edge, Science Stories, Health Check, The Power of… and of course The Infinite Monkey Cage.
Zoe Heron
Executive Producer
Zoe runs The Science Unit’s digital team, creating original content and returnable formats for new a...udiences across multiple platforms – including the hit podcast Just One Thing. A Bafta and Broadcast Digital award-winning film-maker and storyteller, Zoe has previously developed and delivered hundreds of critically-acclaimed shows including Horizon (sixty episodes), Child of Our Time and the Emmy-nominated PBS landmark The Planets.
Emma Lorenz
Creative Director
Emma is a BAFTA, Grierson and RTS award-winning Creative Director who runs the UK Unscripted slate. ... Across her career she has developed access series including BBC One’s The Met, BBC Three’s BAFTA winning Life & Death Row and for C4 Baby Surgeons and World’s Most Luxurious Airline. She has landed ideas for talent such for BBC One’s The RAF at 100 with Ewan McGregor and Katie Price’s Harvey & Me. As well as delivering big budget Specialist Factual including, C4’s Hunt for the Arctic Ghost Ship, BBC One’s Pompeii... with Mary Beard and the BAFTA nominated Factual Drama Our World War for BBC Three.
Rob Liddell
Executive Producer
Rob is an innovative, award-winning producer and storyteller creating a wide range of forms from cut...ting edge journalism, to spectacular landmarks. Rob has worked with a variety of broadcasters, including BBC, Channel 4, and YouTube Originals and has lead complex co-productions with international partners including Hulu, PBS and Discovery. Credits include an upcoming blue chip CGI lead landmark with Chris Packham, Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the Planet, Fatberg Autopsy, Stargazing: Moon Landing Special, Trust Me I’m a Doctor and Horizon: How Mad Are You?
Jane McLaughlin
Talent Executive
With 22 years of multi-genre industry experience, Jane as a Talent Exec has crewed up some of the BB...C’s most iconic series. She has hired programme makers for multiple popular specialist factual series and big scale ambitious global landmarks for channels including BBC One, BBC Two, Channel 4, Channel 5, Nat Geo/Disney + and Migu. Recent credits include The Secret Genius of Modern Life, Spectacular Earth, Secrets of the Superagers, Cook Clever Waste Less with Prue and Rupy, Sky At Night, Dragons’ Den, Amazing Hotels Life Behind the Lobby and Points of View. Whilst maintaining relationships with the best Producers, Directors and Executives, Jane is passionate about nurturing talent at all levels and bringing together diverse inclusive teams.
Paul Overton
Executive Producer
Paul has executive produced many successful popular science titles for a wide range of broadcasters.... Recent credits include The Secret Genius of Modern Life (BBC2); Secrets of the Superagers (Migu); Truth Abouts…(BBC1) and Cook Clever, Waste Less (C4). He also has a strong track record in factual theatre programmes such as Horizon: Feast To Save The Planet, Fatberg: The Secrets of the Sewers & Dissected.
Jenny Scott
Production Executive
Leading and supporting a large production base in London, Jenny works to align creative strategy wit...h production expertise from development through to delivery. Her portfolio spans international landmark series, feature length drama-documentaries, digital content and podcast with recent credits including Universe, First Contact: Alien Encounters, 8 Days: To the Moon and Back; The Infinite Monkey Cage and Just One Thing.
Thomas Scott
Head of Development, International & Co-Production
Tom works across the international and co-production slate, managing relationships with broadcasters... and platforms across the globe. He’s developed everything from landmark singles such as Dinosaurs: The Final Day for BBC One/PBS to the sci-fi series Rendezvous With The Future for Bilibili. He has won commissions with the likes of Netflix, the BBC, PBS, CBC, FTV, Science Channel and many more.
Helen Thomas
Senior Executive Producer
Helen is Senior Executive Producer and enjoys making a wide range of award-winning programmes for gl...obal broadcasters-from live to landmark, journalistically hard-hitting to emotionally charged to innovative formats. Her recent credits include Extinction: The Facts; Stargazing Live; Dinosaurs: The Final Day with David Attenborough; Coronavirus: A Horizon Special and Greta Thunberg: A year to Change the World.
James van der Pool
Executive Producer
James has worked across a broad range of specialist factual titles as Director, Series Producer and ...Executive Producer. His credits include BBC series Wonders of Life and Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners, the feature length documentary-drama 8 Days: To the Moon & Back, the Netflix series The Surgeon’s Cut and Michael X: Hustler, Revolutionary, Outlaw for Sky Documentaries. His productions have received numerous prizes including an Emmy, a Banff Rockie Award and multiple BAFTA and Royal Television Society Awards.
Jackie Williamson
Production Executive
Jackie has worked in television for over 20 years. Now based in Glasgow, Jackie has worked consiste...ntly across landmark Factual productions, delivering to all BBC Channels, Netflix, Nat Geo, C4 and C5.
Nathan Wren
Development Executive
Nathan works across both the domestic and international slates. His development credits include the ...highly acclaimed Greta Thunberg: A Year To Change The World and Extinction: The Facts with Sir David Attenborough (BBC ONE/PBS). Nathan also leads the unit’s Branded Entertainment slate, winning ad-funded commissions including 2045 Memories of the Future (BBC World News) and Cook Clever, Waste Less with Prue and Rupy (Channel 4).