King’s Speech firm gets TV partner

The King’s Speech producer Bedlam Productions is set to partner with a UK coproduction specialist set up by a former Channel 5 exec as it pushes into factual TV programming.

Bedlam, best known for the Oscar-tipped period drama, has appointed LillaVision to pitch its factual projects to the international market. The company was set up in 2008 by former C5 copro boss and RDF Media exec Lilla Hurst.

The news comes after C21 revealed last month that UK-based Bedlam had hired Simon Breen, an exec with production credits for the BBC, MTV and Channel 4, as creative director to lead its move into factual.

Details of Bedlam’s TV projects have not yet been revealed, but Breen told C21 last month he was planning “credible, relevant and entertaining content” with “universal” themes.

Hurst’s credits include the 2004 launch of C5’s coproduction department, which resulted in shows such as Suburban Shootout, Tripping Over, Banged Up Abroad, Revealed and Extraordinary People.

She also spearheaded early coproduction efforts at RDF (now part of Zodiak Media Group) between 2001 and 2004, and headed factual distributor TVF International.

Breen commended Hurst’s “weight of experience, savvy and know-how in the co-financing arena,” and added: “Bedlam has proven we can deliver on factual drama with The King’s Speech, so we hope our partnership with Lilla will serve to demonstrate our equal capabilities in the world of factual TV.”