Fremantle restructures unscripted division

FremantleMedia is reuniting Talkback and Thames as part of a wider restructure at its UK unscripted division.

Comedy entertainment label Talkback and entertainment arm Thames will return to their old, united state as TalkbackThames.

They were previously separated in 2011 after RTL Group-owned Fremantle merged them in 2003.

The restructure comes days after Thames managing director and FremantleMedia veteran Richard Holloway announced his exit after 20 years with the business.

Talkback managing director Leon Wilson is promoted to MD of the enlarged united, with Ed Sleeman replacing him to run the Talkback side of the business.

Former Thames/Syco Productions head Amelia Brown becomes MD of Britain’s Got Talent producer Thames, replacing Holloway.

Brown and Wilson now report to FremantleMedia UK (FMUK) CEO of unscripted Liam Humphreys (pictured), who unveiled the restructure four months after he joined from Channel 4. Holloway had been overseeing FMUK, but stepped back to focus on Thamas at that point.

Other changes see Jonno Richards promoted to director of programmes at Celebrity Juice prodco Talkback. Dean Jones is upped to director of production at FMUK Unscripted and Liz Holmwood becomes head of on-screen talent. Both report to Humphreys.

Meanwhile, former Lime Pictures head of entertainment and Celebs Go Dating creator Phil Harris is joining Thames as creative director, reporting to Brown.

He joins as Lucas Green moves to Banijay Group as head of content.

Meanwhile, Betty head of development Damian Pitman is joining another FMUK unscripted prodco, Boundless, as director of development. He takes up his post in 2018.

This is part of Humphreys’ plan expand Boundless with more focus placed on scaled-up factual entertainment.

The prodco is still searching for an MD after Hannah Wyatt joined BBC Studios as genre director for factual entertainment.

Danny Carvalho, who joined FMUK as creative director in in August, is unaffected by the wholesale changes, as is MD of Shotglass Media Kat Hebden. Both report to Humphreys, with Kate Harwood of Euston Films and Jon Rolph of Retort continuing to lead UK-based scripted efforts and reporting directly to FremantleMedia CEO Cécile Frot-Coutaz,