Off the Fence hires BBC alum Hinnigan

European producer and distributor Off the Fence (OTF) has appointed former BBC exec Debbie Hinnigan as its new head of natural history.

Debbie Hinnigan

OTF is the the production company behind Bafta- and Oscar-winning feature documentary My Octopus Teacher. Hinningan will be based at the firm’s Bristol office in the UK.

There she will lead the natural history production team, which creates content for a wide range of international broadcasters including National Geographic, Discovery, Love Nature, ZDF and Arte.

Hinnigan started her 25-year TV career in news and current affairs at the BBC in London and went on to work on the pubcaster’s flagship children’s shows Blue Peter and Going Live!.

She then joined the BBC’s Natural History Unit in Bristol, developing her love of wildlife and adventure programming. Since then, she has created and worked on both short and longform programmes for terrestrial and international broadcasters.

Allison Bean, MD of OTF, said: “It is with great excitement that we announce that Debbie Hinnigan will be joining our management team to head up natural history programming. This fantastic genre is growing and Off the Fence very much looks forward to producing future content, adding Debbie’s huge talent and experience to our production team.”

Hinnigan added: “I am looking forward to building on Off the Fence’s incredible reputation and bringing more unique animal stories to a wider audience. I am excited to bring my passion for good storytelling to Off the Fence’s wildlife content.”