Wise Owl Films appoints Ben Gordon to oversee development across expanding slate               

All3Media-owned Wise Owl Films has appointed Ben Gordon as its head of development as the Leeds-based outfit looks to work more across both TV and digital.

Ben Gordon

His remit will be focused on expanding the company’s factual, specialist factual, contemporary history, archive and documentary slates across both linear and digital formats.

The role had previously been overseen by Kate Siney, who has combined development and directing over the past year and is set to continue her relationship with Wise Owl Films as a freelance director.

Gordon has previously worked for HiddenLight Productions, The Garden Productions, Wag Entertainment and Wall to Wall Television.

He is credited with developing the BAFTA award-winning The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story for BBC Two/Four, as well as developing shows such as the Back In Time For… brand for BBC Two and Britain’s Secret War Babies for Channel 4.

He also worked on the development of The Shipman Files: A Very British Crime Story for BBC Two, My Family, The Holocaust & Me for BBC One, The Search For Instagram’s Worst Con Artist for ITVX/Netflix and The Real Fatal Attraction for ITVX/Netflix.

Other commissions to which Gordon has contributed include Attack on London: Hunting the 7/7 Bombers for Netflix and Don’t Pick Up The Phone for Netflix/Paramount+.

James Knight, creative director at Wise Owl Films, said Gordon brings “a wealth of experience and a tenacious reputation for generating smart contemporary ideas.”

Recent Wise Owl commissions include the music documentary strand When…. Came to Britain, which has so far covered Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Nirvana, Motown, Tina Turner, Blondie and ABBA for BBC Two.

It has also made Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive & Kids and Amanda Owen’s Farming Lives (More4), Anita Rani – The Brontes: Sisters of Disruption for Sky Arts, BBC Two documentary The Hacienda: The Club That Shook Britain, Channel 4’s My Second Hand Home and Channel 4.0’s Box Fresh.