‘Attenborough’s Life in Colour’ prodco Humble Bee hires BBCS exec to lead development

Jayne Edwards

UK factual producer Humble Bee Films has appointed Jayne Edwards from BBC Studios Natural History Unit as its head of development.

Edwards will develop and pitch science, history and specialist factual programming while also building on the company’s slate of blue-chip factual productions, which includes BBC One (UK), Netflix and Nine Network (Aus) natural history co-production Attenborough’s Life In Colour.

She will also oversee Humble Bee Films’ development team and is based out of Bristol, reporting into Humble Bee’s recently appointed creative director Stephen McQuillan.

Edwards was most recently development executive at BBCS’s NHU division, primarily leading US and SVOD developments. Prior to this, she was creative executive at BBCS and was formerly head of development at Off The Fence.

“I can’t wait to begin developing an ambitious slate that not only builds on their success but also takes them into new territories across factual,” said Edwards.

“Jayne has lived and breathed the UK natural history scene for the last few years now and has a superb reputation across the industry – but she also has a great eye for specialist factual, history and science programming,” said McQuillan. “It’s this blend of experience that makes her an exciting fit for Humble Bee Films, as the company looks to broaden its slate into the premium factual space alongside its already stellar line-up of blue-chip content.”

Humble Bee’s roster of programming includes David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities for UKTV, BBC Worldwide and BBC2; Attenborough And The Giant Elephant for BBC One and CBC in Canada; and Tasmania: Weird And Wonderful for Terra Mater Factual Studios and BBC2, among numerous others.