Avalon Hires for U.K. Production Team

Toby Ward has joined Avalon as head of U.K. production for comedy, entertainment and scripted.

In his new position, Ward will report to Joanna Beresford, Avalon’s global director of production. He will work alongside Lydia Arding, head of U.K. production for factual and documentaries and Kathy Welch, U.S. senior VP of production.

Avalon series currently in production include Not Going Out (BBC), Taskmaster (Channel 4), Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), Starstruck (HBO Max/BBC), Everything’s Gonna Be Okay (Freeform), Spitting Image (BritBox), Breeders (FX/Sky), The Russell Howard Hour (Sky), The Iliza Shlesinger Sketch Show (Netflix), as well as multiple comedy specials for Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max and Netflix.

Ward most recently spent eight years at Burning Bright Productions as director of production, overseeing shows such as Joanna Lumley’s Silk Road Adventure (ITV), 50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy (Sky), Almost Royal (BBC America) and Richard E Grant’s Hotel Secrets (Sky). He previously served as head of production for comedy and entertainment for Tiger Aspect for 15 years.

Beresford said: “We’re incredibly pleased to welcome Toby to Avalon. At a time when the entire industry has to navigate one of the most complex moments in production history, his first-rate expertise and experience are invaluable as we work to meet our current and future production commitments.”

Ward added: “I’m thrilled to be joining the team at Avalon. I’ve been a long time admirer of their shows and I’m delighted to be working with Joanna again and to be joining the company at such an exciting time.”