Barcroft Productions


Little Dot Studios hires Barcroft exec for US unscripted development

All3Media-owned Little Dot Studios (LDS) has hired Barcroft Productions’ head of development as it looks to expand its Real Stories strand into long-form docs and push further into the US market. The platform has hired Paul Woolf, one of the creators of Barcroft’s Netflix original Amazing Interiors, as head of US unscripted development. The appointment […]

Barcroft goes D2C with TV app

UK-based factual prodco Barcroft Productions is leaping on the success of its YouTube channel by going direct-to-consumer with free TV app. This will comprise with 700 episodes of Barcroft programming – the company’s entire catalogue – and third party content at launch. The Barcroft TV app will offer its in-house content exclusively for 24 hours […]

Barcroft poaches Zig Zag’s Wyles

Barcroft Productions has hired Zig Zag Productions’ Peter Wyles as director of programmes. Wyles is moving to the UK prodco, which has recently secured commissions such as Preposterous Pets for Animal Planet and OAPs Behaving Badly for Channel 5. He had only joined Troy producer Zig Zag as head of development last year after leaving […]

C5 finds Boy with the World’s Biggest Hands

UK broadcaster Channel 5 has commissioned a one-off documentary about a boy born whose rare medical condition has made his hands grow to huge proportions. The Boy with the World’s Biggest Hands comes from Barcroft Productions, and will follow eight-year-old Indian child Mohammed Kaleem, who has macrodactyly, or local gigantism. This condition has led to […]

Grandmother Lover attached to Channel 5

UK broadcaster Channel 5 has commissioned a documentary about a 31-year-old man that enjoys dating pension-age women. Grandmother Lover is a 1x60mins special from Barcroft Productions (OAPs Behaving Badly) that’s set to broadcast next year. It follows Pittsburgh resident Kyle Jones, who has had several experiences dating women aged up to 91. Producers say it […]

Ex-ITV producer joins Barcroft in long-form push

Former ITV producer Adam Mudditt has joined UK-based digital channels operator Barcroft Media, which is restructuring ahead of a push into online long-form programming. Mudditt has been named as head of video production with a remit to manage channels arm Barcroft TV’s production team to allow the producer-distributor to increase output across multiple video channels. […]

UK indies seek dialogue with new Channel 5 owner Viacom

Independent producers in the UK are seeking to meet with top executives from new Channel 5 owner Viacom to discuss programming plans and build relationships. UK indies trade body Pact yesterday issued a release that said the sector would seek to meet Viacom “very soon”. The body noted indies had regularly met with Northern & […]

Discovery commissions Everest special

Discovery has ordered Bear Grylls: Man Vs Everest , a one-off special for its international networks about the mountain narrated by the titular survival expert. The news follows Discovery cancelling its planned live Everest special, in which Joby Ogwyn would have scaled and then jumped off the summit of the mountain, following an avalanche that […]

YouTube gets original

With YouTube channels and their content providers toasted as the talk of MIPTV last week, multichannel operators, TV producers and analysts tell Jesse Whittock why original content is the key to monetising the emerging YouTube ecosystem. Question: What do a hyperactive Swedish video gamer, a geeky American comic duo and  DJ Avicii have in common? […]

ITN Productions appoints international programming boss

UK-based ITN Productions has hired Ian Russell as head of international programmes. Russell has worked at various UK productions companies and broadcasters. At free-to-air commercial broadcaster Channel 5 he was commissioning editor and subsequently served stints as director, coproductions, at Cineflix. His recent credits as an exec producer include Discovery’s Car vs Wild and Barcroft […]