ITVS names Tall Story replacement

ITV Studios has named a new creative director at drama label Tall Story Pictures following the news of Francis Hopkinson’s imminent departure.

Catherine Oldfield

Hopkinson, who is joining UK prodco Lookout Point, will be replaced by Catherine Oldfield. She is co-founder of the label and is executive producer of forthcoming drama Trauma.

Oldfield will lead the ITVS drama label following Hopkinson’s departure later this year, having joined the company in 2011 to establish a new scripted unit, which was last year rebranded as Tall Story Pictures.

Since then Oldfield and Hopkinson have been behind a raft of original series including Home Fires and Tutankhamun, both developed and executive produced by Oldfield.

Julian Bellamy, MD at ITV Studios, said: “Francis leaves the business in fantastic shape with a great foundation to continue to grow.

“I’m delighted that the person leading this will be Catherine – her skill and experience can be seen across the breadth of Tall Story’s productions and development slate. I’m looking forward to watching the label continue to thrive under her expert direction.”

Oldfield added that she would be taking Tall Story “into the next stage of its evolution” and said the business is “in a good place.”

“I’ll of course miss working with Francis, but with filming for Trauma in full swing, it is very much business as usual.”

Prior to joining ITVS, Oldfield was head of scripted content at Monkey with responsibility for developing a slate of scripted programmes across both comedy and drama, including Henry 8.0. She previously worked at Greenlit Rights.