Martha Holmes stepping down as Plimsoll’s CCO of natural history and adventure

Martha Holmes is stepping back from her role as chief creative officer for natural history and adventure at ITV Studios-backed Plimsoll Productions and moving into a non-executive board role.

Martha Holmes

In her new senior advisory capacity, Holmes will play a part in shaping the UK company’s long-term strategy and creative direction. She will also continue to serve as an executive producer on key Plimsoll projects.

The veteran natural history producer has been with the Bristol-headquartered company since 2013, playing an instrumental part in Plimsoll’s rise to become one of the country’s biggest natural history producers.

Over the past 12 years, she has worked on titles such as Super/Natural (Disney+/National Geographic), Tiny World (Apple TV+), Yellowstone Live (National Geographic), Animal (Netflix), Night on Earth (Netflix), Queer Planet (Peacock), Hostile Planet (National Geographic) and A Real Bug’s Life (Disney+/National Geographic), which picked up four Emmys and is Disney+’s most-watched unscripted series.

She has also worked on notable adventure series like The Devil’s Climb (Disney+/Hulu/National Geographic), On the Edge with Alex Honnold (Disney+) and Life at the Extreme (ITV).

Earlier in her career, Holmes worked on groundbreaking titles including Blue Planet and Life during her time at the BBC Natural History Unit.

Plimsoll’s hybrid wildlife and factual entertainment format Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters premiered recently on ITV in the UK, while it is in production on several other shows including Nightmares of Nature with Blumhouse Television, Surviving Pompeii with Tom Hiddleston (Disney+/National Geographic) and Are You My First? (Hulu).

“What Martha has achieved, both creatively and culturally, is both peerless and inspiring,” said Plimsoll founder and CEO Grant Mansfield.

“A singular talent who is also an exceptional team leader, no one has contributed more to Plimsoll’s success and culture. I’m delighted the company will continue to benefit from Martha’s expertise and insights as she remains creatively engaged as an executive producer across forthcoming projects and begins, with immediate effect, a key new role as special advisor to the board.”

Holmes added: “What started as a few of us chasing big ideas has grown into a world-class team telling stories that matter. To do that with integrity, vision and creative freedom – that’s incredibly rare. I’m lucky to have been part of it.”