BBC Studios buys into Kelly Webb-Lamb’s Mothership Productions

Kelly Webb-Lamb

BBC Studios (BBCS) has taken a 25% stake in Mothership Productions, the unscripted indie set up by former Channel 4 exec, Kelly Webb-Lamb.

The commercial arm of the UK pubcaster will invest in Mothership’s slate, while acquiring a first-look for global distribution and format rights in return.

Webb-Lamb, the former deputy director of programmes and head of popular factual at C4, launched Mothership earlier this year, having looked after a roster of shows including Gogglebox, Naked Attraction, Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds, A British Tribe Next Door and Murder Island at C4.

Her nascent prodco has several projects in advanced development and the exec has already made a trio of senior hires, with fellow C4 alums Charlotte Desai and Gilly Greenslade, as well as former Jamie Oliver Productions exec Gudren Claire joining the company.

Webb-Lamb said: “For some of us, this feels rather like coming home… you can take the girl out of the BBC, but she never forgets her staff number, and although this is a totally different kind of arrangement, I am super glad that this is where Mothership has ended up in terms of partnership.”

Ralph Lee, CEO at BBCS Productions, added: “Kelly is highly sought-after creative leader who has assembled a team around her that has a formidable pedigree in hit shows and formats in a highly competitive field. It is a true testament to their talent and potential that within only a short period of time, Mothership has developed a slate that is brimming with ideas that we believe will appeal to both UK and international broadcasters and platforms.”

Mothership joins BBCS’s portfolio of prodcos, which include fully owned scripted labels Lookout Point, Baby Cow Productions, House Productions, Clerkenwell Films and Sid Gentle Films.

BBCS, whose CEO Tom Fussell told TBI earlier this year that further prodco investments would be on the cards, also holds minority stakes in Moonage, Various Artists Limited, Expectation Entertainment, Curve Media, Firebird Pictures and Boffola Pictures (via Lookout Point).