Endemol alum takes to Highwire

A former Endemol executive is setting up an independent production company under the Objective Media Group (OMG) umbrella.

Gavin Henderson

Gavin Henderson’s Highwire Productions will focus on “ambitious male-skewed entertainment and adventure formats.”

Henderson has produced some of the UK’s most iconic television series including Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush, The Big Breakfast and Big Brother as well as launching global live event format Planet Earth Live, and most recently Life at the Extreme with Davina McCall for UK commercial broadcaster ITV.

OMG will include Highwire in All3Media’s drive into formatted entertainment. Henderson will start work in London’s County Hall using OMG’s back-office support.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for me to leverage my creativity within a supportive and experienced team at Objective,” said Henderson.

“TV should be exciting and scary, bring together ambition and originality, and that’s exactly what I believe Highwire will do – combining the latest technology and techniques with brilliant storytelling to create shows that stand out from the crowd.”

Henderson managed a portfolio of reality and quiz formats as head of programmes for Endemol West, including Deal or No Deal. Latterly at Endemol in 2011 he was creative director of Big Brother and relaunched the brand on Channel 5.

He was most recently creative director at Grant Mansfield’s Plimsoll Productions and also had two stints at the BBC’s Natural History Unit.

Yesterday OMG’s new entertainment label Panda Television made two key appointments to its management team.

The group recently appointed Hannah Mackay, one of the producers behind Channel 4 comedy Peep Show, to oversee scripted at the company’s fledgling fiction arm.