Former CBeebies executive producer Vanessa Amberleigh retires

Former CBeebies executive producer Vanessa Amberleigh has announced her retirement after over three decades in kids TV in the UK.

Vanessa Amberleigh

Amberleigh started her career as an on-screen presenter on iconic BBC children’s show Playdays in the 1990s before going behind the camera at a fledgling Nickelodeon UK.

She went on to work as a script writer, script editor, producer and exec producer for many of the UK’s major broadcasters and multiple independent companies over the years.

She worked on the launch of the CBeebies channel in 2002 and was the first producer of CBeebies Bedtime Stories.

She returned to the BBC in 2013 as an executive producer working across animation and live action, including shows such as CBeebies Christmas Show, JoJo & Gran Gran and the Bafta award-winning Gigglebizz.

She served as genre lead for preschool at BBC Children’s In House Productions between 2017 and 2022. More recently, Amberleigh worked part-time for Sky Kids as an executive producer.

Amberleigh also served as the animation production liaison executive at ScreenSkills and vice chair of the kids arm of the European Broadcasting Union.

Amberleigh said on LinkedIn she has been “lucky to work with some of the most kind, talented, passionate, enthusiastic, funny and quirky people ever,” including kids TV greats such as Playdays creator Cynthia Felgate.

A host of figures from UK kids TV have paid tribute to Amberleigh on LinkedIn, including former colleagues from the BBC.

Jackie Edwards, who served as head of BBC Children’s acquisitions and independent animation between 2015 and 2019, said: “Simply the best. Passion, creativity, ingenuity, wit, integrity, wisdom (I could go on), but most of all, respect for your audience. You are a remarkable, wonderful force of nature. Love you Lady Amberleigh.”

Lucy Murphy, director of kids’ content at Sky in the UK and Ireland, said: “I feel very proud that your last gig in such a distinguished career was for us. Enjoy your every moment of well deserved retirement.”