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Fremantle shakes up UK business

FremantleMedia is set to restructure its UK business, with a raft of promotions and new appointments and the rejoining of production entities Talkback and Thames.

Liam Humphreys

Liam Humphreys, CEO of FremantleMedia UK Unscripted, announced this morning that comedy entertainment label Talkback and entertainment prodco Thames will be recombined as Talkback Thames under MD Leon Wilson.

Wilson was previously MD of Talkback and will report to Humphreys in the new expanded role. The two companies were previously joined together from 2003 until 2011.

They will continue to have individual heads, reporting to Wilson. Amelia Brown, previously head of Thames and Syco Productions, becomes MD of Thames. For Thames/Syco shows such as Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor, she will report directly to Humphreys.

Ed Sleeman, meanwhile, has been promoted to head of Talkback with Jonno Richards upped to director of programmes for Talkback.

Dean Jones has been promoted to director of production across FremantleMedia UK Unscripted, with Liz Holmwood now head of on-screen talent for the group. Both report to Humphreys.

Phil Harris, previously head of entertainment at Lime Pictures, has been hired in a new role of creative director at Thames, reporting to Brown.

Humphreys has also announced plans to expand factual label Boundless and grow its focus to produce more factual entertainment content with scale.

Damian Pitman joins as director of development, having previously been head of development at All3Media-owned Betty. A new MD for Boundless will be announced in due course.

Danny Carvalho, creative director of FremantleMedia UK Unscripted, and Kat Hebden, MD of Shotglass Media, both continue to report to Humphreys.

The MDs of FremantleMedia UK’s scripted labels, Kate Harwood at Euston Films and Jon Rolph at Retort, continue to report to FremantleMedia Group CEO Cécile Frot-Coutaz.

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