House Productions Opens Base in Manchester

House Productions, part of BBC Studios, has expanded its operations with the opening of a base in Manchester, to be led by Louise Sutton.

The production company already has an established presence in the region, with the hit series Sherwood filmed in and around Nottingham and Manchester. The new base, House North, will be the home of the company’s productions based out of Northern England and serve as a hub for creative talent from outside of London.

With the opening of the Manchester office, the company plans to push further into the scripted comedy space. It has brought on Sutton in an executive producer role to lead the local base. She joins from Broke & Bones, where she developed season seven of Black Mirror.

Sutton will report to company founders Tessa Ross and Juliette Howell and will oversee the drama output in the north. She will also lead the charge on expanding the company’s comedy slate and building up a roster of half-hour dramas and younger skewing shows.

“Tessa and Juliette have built an incredible brand at House Productions over the past seven years, and I am so honored to be a part of their wonderful company,” Sutton said. “House has a well-deserved reputation as being a great home for talent, and House in Manchester will be our home-from-home in the North.”

Howell and Ross added, “This is an exciting time for us at House—with an expanding television and film slate, working across the U.K. and internationally, it’s a great moment to announce the wonderful Louise Sutton’s new position, heading up our operations in the North. She’s a renowned producer with particularly deep roots in the region. We’re looking forward to growing House’s relationships with creative talent even further and to finding more of those great storytellers and stories that are truly rooted and yet entirely universal.”