Plimsoll hires BBC, ITV alum Klein

Plimsoll Productions, the UK company launched by former Zodiak USA chief Grant Mansfield, has appointed a former factual commissioner at the BBC and ITV to lead its documentary output in the UK and internationally.

Richard Klein

Richard Klein has been named head of documentaries for UK and international at Plimsoll, having previously worked on docs including the Academy Award-winning Man on Wire as well as shows such as Tribe and Traffic Cops.

He previously led factual commissioning at UK broadcasters the BBC and ITV, and also ran BBC4 where he oversaw the doc-focused Storyville strand.

Tom Hugh-Jones

He left the director of factual position at commercial terrestrial ITV in 2016, and had more recently been creative director at Banijay-owned prodco IWC Media.

Plimsoll has also promoted Tom Hugh-Jones to creative director of natural history, with a remit to develop, executive produce and oversee programming.

Hugh-Jones joined Plimsoll three years ago to serve as showrunner on the forthcoming series Hostile Planet for Nat Geo in the US and before that worked on BBC series Planet Earth II.

Chris Williams

Elsewhere, Chris Williams has been promoted to series producer working across factual entertainment programming, and former DRG exec Jonathan Jackson has been named finance and commercial director. His remit includes devising and implementing commercial growth objectives and opportunities.

All will work out of the company’s headquarters in Bristol with Klein reporting to Mansfield, Hugh-Jones to head of natural history Martha Holmes, Jackson to chief operating officer Christine Owen and Williams to head of factual entertainment Karen Plumb.

Jonathan Jackson

Mansfield said the appointments “reflect Plimsoll’s continued expansion and the wealth of new opportunities available to the company domestically and internationally.”

Plimsoll’s slate includes live event Yellowstone Live and Hostile Planet for Nat Geo while it also acquired prodco BearHugTV and opened an office in Cardiff.