UKTV’s Joe McVey sets up comedy indie

Former UKTV commissioning editor Joe McVey has set up a new Bristol-based indie prodco called Super Best Quality Video Productions.

Joe McVey

The new prodco will specialise in scripted and non-scripted comedy titles and is backed by BAFTA-nominated indie Strawberry Blond, led by Steve Wynne.

During his time at UKTV, McVey worked across hundreds of hours of comedy content for a number of channels such as Dave, W and Gold. He oversaw series including Judge Romesh, Women on the Verge and comedy quiz-series Hypothetical.

McVey has more than 20 years of commissioning, development and production experience under his belt having worked for Comedy Central, Tiger Aspect, Roughcut and Objective among others.

McVey said: “After three great years at UKTV my season ticket ran out so it felt like a good idea to go back to the production sector. Bristol is such an amazing creative hub so it felt odd that comedy was hugely under-served.

“I’m really looking forward working with all the great talent I’ve had the joy to work with over the years as long as I can persuade them to come down here occasionally. And as I say, I couldn’t afford the train fare anymore.”

The indie prodco has yet to announce any projects, though McVey joked that he would “not rest until we’ve got Attenborough a panel show”.