ITV senior commissioning editor Helen Ziegler leaving for Hot Sauce Pictures
ITV senior commissioning editor Helen Ziegler is leaving the UK commercial broadcaster to join Sony Pictures Television (SPT)-owned producer Hot Sauce Pictures as its creative director.
Helen Ziegler
Ziegler, who joined ITV’s drama team in early 2024 having previously served as director of television at Mammoth Screen, will take up her new post later in 2025.
Belfast-based Hot Sauce was launched as a formal production company in October 2024 by SPT and investigative journalists-turned-creatives Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson.
Lawn and Patterson met working for the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme Panorama. They went on to co-write BBC drama The Salisbury Poisonings, which became the BBC’s most-watched drama of 2020.
Their original series Blue Lights, about policing in contemporary Belfast, has aired for two seasons on the BBC.
As a majority-owned company, Hot Sauce is part of the SPT International Production group portfolio alongside fellow scripted companies Left Bank Pictures, Eleven, Eleventh Hour Films and Cardiff-based Bad Wolf.
It is SPT’s second production company in Belfast, after non-scripted and formats specialist Stellify Media.
Ziegler’s executive producer credits at Mammoth Screen included Peter Bowker’s World on Fire for BBC One, Gwyneth Hughes’ Tom Jones for Masterpiece and ITV and Russell Lewis’ Endeavour for ITV.
At ITV, she was part of a team that commissioned series such as heist thriller Frauds, courtroom drama Saviour, espionage thriller Secret Service and a drama based on Ann Ming’s memoir For the Love of Julie.
Ziegler said: “I have loved and valued my time at ITV and feel very lucky to have worked with Polly Hill and Kevin Lygo at such an iconic broadcaster.
“I’m now thrilled to take this next step as creative director, Declan and Adam are a truly creative force and the chance to build Hot Sauce with them is unmissable. I have long admired their unique approach to storytelling and the opportunity to bring exciting voices to this venture is a dream come true. I can’t wait to get started.”
Polly Hill, director of drama at ITV, said: “I have loved working with Helen and I am sorry to see her leave, but I know her heart is in production and so I am excited for her and wish her well in her new venture.”
