BBC Studios appoints Jonny Keeling as head of Natural History Unit

BBC Studios Productions today named Jonny Keeling as the next head of its Natural History Unit (NHU), based in the UK city of Bristol.

Jonny Keeling

Keeling’s production credits include some of the unit’s most successful series, including Planet Earth, Planet Earth II and Seven Worlds, One Planet.

As former head of NHU Children’s, he executive produced Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures and Deadly Pole to Pole and developed and delivered projects across a wide range of genres, including animation, comedy, and drama.

He takes over from outgoing head Julian Hector who leaves after a five-year stint that saw the production house produce shows including Blue Planet II, Dynasties and the forthcoming The Green Planet for the BBC as well as its first original commissions for international broadcasters.

Reporting to Tom McDonald, BBC Studios’ MD of factual, Keeling will be responsible for all of the NHU’s creative and commercial activity.

The NHU recently won multiple new commissions with both the BBC (Frozen Planet II and Chris & Meg’s Wild Summer) and new buyers (The Year Earth Changed forApple, Ocean Xplorers for National Geographic, Endangered for Discovery and The Americas for NBCUniversal).

He will also further develop the NHU’s presence in North America via NHU LA.

McDonald said: “Jonny is one of the best blue-chip natural history executives in the industry and has a depth of experience not just in landmark programming but in a huge variety of tones and forms. As well as being passionate about the quality of the NHU’s programming, he’s a brilliant leader, ambitious and inspiring, and I cannot wait to work with him to continue to the NHU’s incredible growth.”