FremantleMedia Restructures U.K. Production Business

LONDON: FremantleMedia is bringing its entertainment and factual labels Thames, Boundless and Talkback under one genre umbrella, allowing them to more easily combine their expertise and work together.

The individual labels will continue to exist but will be grouped into a new unscripted structure. Liam Humphreys, currently Channel 4’s head of popular factual television, has been hired as CEO of FMUK Unscripted. He will report to FremantleMedia’s group CEO, Cecile Frot-Coutaz.

Meanwhile, FMUK’s drama and comedy businesses will continue to operate separately with Kate Harwood, the managing director of Euston Films, and Jon Rolph, the managing director of Retort, reporting directly to Frot-Coutaz. FremantleMedia’s U.K. business will be represented at operating board level by its Chairman David Liddiment.

Frot-Coutaz commented, “Unscripted has played a pivotal role in FremantleMedia’s success to date and will be critical to our future growth in the U.K. and globally. As the entertainment and factual genres increasingly bleed into one another, it makes sense to run these labels as a single entity with a greater focus in order to explore new areas and further expand our unscripted business.

“I’m delighted that Liam will be joining FremantleMedia to help us achieve this. He has a brilliant track record and combines strategic thinking with impeccable editorial judgment. His natural instinct for programs has seen him consistently deliver some of the U.K.’s most influential and successful factual-entertainment hits of the last few years.

“I’d like to thank Richard Holloway for doing a fantastic job as interim CEO over the last two and a half years, while concurrently managing Thames. I am very grateful for his support during this time and will continue to rely on him for his unrivaled understanding of entertainment and his ability to deliver programs that attract millions of viewers week in, week out, in particular, The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent.”

Humphreys added: “Working at Channel 4 has been the most creatively fulfilling chapter of my career to date. It’s with sadness that I’m saying goodbye, but the opportunity to join Cecile and her talented team at Fremantle is one I couldn’t resist. I’m looking forward to helping the unscripted labels go from strength to strength and I couldn’t be more excited about the creative adventures that lie ahead.”