Scottish prodco Black Camel Pictures hires from BBCS, signs with All3Media Int’l

Annika follows murder cases on the waterways of Scotland

Scottish indie drama prodco Black Camel Pictures has signed an exclusive three-year first-look deal with distributor All3Media International and hired a head of development from BBC Studios.

The Glasgow-based company behind shows including UKTV’s crime drama Annika will now work with All3Media International exclusively on its forthcoming scripted drama slate.

Luke Fresle, meanwhile, is joining as head of development from BBC Studios, with Nicole Fitzpatrick moving from that role to exec producer. Script editors Eleanor Othieno and Katie Dow have also been promoted to development editors and Bjorn Hanson has been promoted to in-house producer.

Fresle has worked across TV, radio and theatre in the UK, the US and China. He’s worked on shows such as BBC One’s EastEnders, Our Girl, Gold Digger and Casualty; ITV’s Unforgotten; and the UKTV/Showtime series We Hunt Together. He most recently led the creative team on the two most recent seasons of BBC One’s Silent Witness.

Fitzpatrick’s previous credits include exec producer on the first two seasons of Annika, script exec on Acorn/ZDF series The Chelsea Detective and on the Sky/HBO series Strike Back, and script producer on EastEnders.

The new appointments form part of the growing Black Camel team headed up company founders, CEO Arabella Page Croft and head of production Kieran Parker.

The company also co-owns TG Entertainment, the prodco behind children’s animated series The Brilliant World of Tom Gates, which premiered on Sky Kids in 2021. Season three is currently in production. Under the new deal, Black Camel’s projects for young audiences and children are not represented by All3Media International.