BBC Studios hires Boundless MD

BBC Studios has appointed the MD of UK prodco Boundless to oversee its factual entertainment shows, including motoring series Top Gear.

Hannah Wyatt

Hannah Wyatt will become genre director for factual entertainment and events at BBC Studios and take responsibility for the creative, commercial and operational strategy of the business.

Wyatt, who will sit on the BBC Studios’ executive committee, will also take charge of fledgling BBC label Auntie Productions, which is behind Amazing Hotels, The Life Swap Adventure and In Your Ear.

Her remit will also include events and the development of new factual entertainment formats.

Mark Linsey, director of BBC Studios, split the organisation’s entertainment, music and events division, previously run by Roger Leatham, into two parts earlier this year.

Wyatt will lead the factual entertainment and events arm while a head of the entertainment and music division, which is behind shows such as Strictly Come Dancing, is yet to be named. Leatham, meanwhile, was named director of business affairs for BBC Studios.

Linsey, who replaced Endemol Shine creative chief Peter Salmon at the top of BBC Studios in 2016, described Wyatt as someone with an “entrepreneurial, creative and strategic approach” who “will bring renewed vigour and do wonders in driving our business forward.”

Wyatt joined Boundless in March 2014 as creative director and rose to MD in July 2015, running a programme slate including The Apprentice for BBC1 and Grand Designs for Channel 4.

Recent launches include The Week The Landlords Moved In (BBC1), Love In The Countryside (BBC2), and The Secrets in My Family (UKTV).

Prior to her roles at Boundless, Wyatt was director of programmes at UK prodco Mentorn and worked on shows including The Fried Chicken Shop for Channel 4.

BBC Studios launched as a wholly owned subsidiary earlier this year and competes for work with other UK and international broadcasters, as well as the BBC.

In October, the BBC, which had moved to a 100% competition model for all its TV programming, announced it would restructure the production division, which will result in around 300 job losses.