Fremantle’s Talkback appoints Jonno Richards as MD

Fremantle has hired Jonno Richards as MD of UK comedy label and Celebrity Juice producer Talkback.

The exec takes on the role permanently after having served as acting MD since May.

Prior to becoming MD, Richards served as director of programmes at Talkback, exec producing shows including Shopping With Keith Lemon, Alan Carr’s Epic Gameshow and Celebrity Juice.

Prior to joining Talkback, he was creative director at Lola Entertainment, where he oversaw Detectorists for BBC Four and The John Bishop Show for BBC One.

As a freelance producer, he worked across a broad range of primetime shows including Objective’s John Bishop’s Britain and ITV’s Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.

Elsewhere, Talkback has also appointed Ceri Jones to the newly created position of head of fact ent. Her exec producing credits include The Real Full Monty: Ladies Night and Gone to Pot: American Road Trip for ITV.

Most recently, she has been working with Talkback as an EP on Harry’s Heroes: The Full English for ITV.

Liam Humphreys, CEO of Fremantle UK, said: “I’m really pleased to be able to formalise Jonno’s appointment in this crucial role for Talkback. He’s been a real force within the business over the past four years and I couldn’t think of anyone better placed to take Talkback to the next level of creative development.”

Richards said: “I’m incredibly proud to be leading Talkback, a fantastic company with a rich comedy heritage. We’ve got great people already in place and I can’t wait for Ceri to join the family. Hopefully together we can create Talkback’s next raft of ambitious, bold and & funny shows.”

Jones added: “I’m hugely excited to be joining Jonno and the talented team at Talkback and can’t wait to build on the success we’ve had with Harry’s Heroes – using Talkback’s unique comedy expertise to make entertaining and funny fact-ent shows.”