New Head of Development at BBC Worldwide

LONDON: BBC Worldwide has named Matt Pritchard as its new head of development.

Pritchard is tasked with generating original format ideas for international exploitation and rollout across BBC Worldwide’s network of international production bases in the Americas, France, Australia and India. The team’s aim is to raise revenues generated from BBC Worldwide’s format business by tapping into local demand and developing original productions internationally. Previous hits from the development team include the Great American Road Trip, which recently aired on NBC.

Pritchard takes on this role with immediate effect and will report to Gareth Williams, the director of new programmes. He joins BBC Worldwide from ITV Studios, where he was senior development producer for three years and worked on the smash hit Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway and Channel 4’s The Secret Diner.

Williams said: “Matt has an outstanding record of developing new and successful formats as well as producing prime-time programs for cable and terrestrial broadcasters. His knowledge of the media industry in the U.K. and abroad coupled with his creative talent will help us bring successful formats to the international market.”

Pritchard added: “BBC Worldwide has grown rapidly in the last 18 months and there is fantastic potential to further exploit the network of global production bases around the world. I am looking forward to recruiting a new team of creative talent and developing the next generation of formats for audiences around the world.”