BBC Co-Commissioning:
the New Normal
Sponsored by Belfast Media Festival
Location: Downstairs Theatre
Time: Thursday 17th November, 3pm
With increased emphasis on iplayer audiences BBC Co-commissions are on the up and up, with nations and network combining resources to enable programmes and series with bigger budgets.
Has the heyday of the sole commission been and gone? What does it mean for the BBC and for the indies today?
Join Eddie Doyle (head of commissioning BBCNI), Kate Phillips, (BBC Network head of Factual Commissioning), Lindsay Bradbury, (Head of Daytime Commissioning ) & Emma Lawson, (Network Comedy Commissioning) as they discuss Co-commissioning; the New Normal.
Eddie Doyle
Head of Content Commissioning, BBC NI
Eddie Doyle is BBC Northern Ireland’s Head of Content Commissioning, leading BBC NI Commissioning in providing audiences with television and digital content that reflects all aspects of life in Northern Ireland.
This includes content across a range of genres outside of news and current affairs, including factual, entertainment, comedy, music and events. He provides strategic and editorial leadership to the BBC NI commissioning team and works closely with external partners, BBC network commissioning, independent production companies and the wider Northern Ireland creative sector.
Prior to joining the BBC, Eddie was Head of Factual, Comedy, Talent Development and Music at RTÉ where he commissioned Comedy, Drama and Entertainment programmes such as Mrs Brown's Boys, The Young Offenders, and The Tommy Tiernan Show. His documentary commissions, include Whistleblower: The Maurice McCabe Story, The Man Who Wanted to Fly, and The Notorious Conor McGregor.
He also launched the 'Prime Time Investigates' series, the ‘Format Farm’ commissioning scheme and the Reality Bites youth documentary series. He devised and delivered the RTÉ Cross Platform Strategy on Comedy in 2014 and RTÉ2 Channel Strategy in 2012 and the RTÉ/Irish Film Board Export Initiative in 2017.
Emma Lawson
Commissioning, BBC Comedy
Originating from the North East, Emma worked her way through the ranks on many hours of scripted comedy with major indies including Objective (Peep Show, Star Stories), Fremantle (Count Arthur Strong) and Roughcut TV, where she stayed for 10 years working with Ash Atalla on projects including five series of Cuckoo (BBC Three) and People Just Do Nothing (BBC Three).
Emma went on to produce Trying, the first scripted comedy for Apple TV+, which led to an in-house commissioning role working under Jay Hunt. Since leaving Apple she has originated a new comedy series for Sky One, worked as a development executive for Universal Music’s global scripted arm, and set up regional development initiative The North East Comedy House, before joining the BBC Comedy commissioning team in January 2022.
Lindsay Bradbury
Commissioning Editor, BBC Daytime & Early Peak
Lindsay has been responsible for commissioning Daytime and Early Peak output on all channels and BBC iPlayer overseeing 1,500 hours of original programmes a year. Output ranges from The One Show to Rip Off Britain, Scam Interceptors to Bargain Hunt.
As well as leading Daytime on events which bring the whole nation together such as the recent BBC100, she devised The Coast to Coast Food Festival - a unique collaboration of all the Nations on a factual format which transmits in 2023.
Daytime is delighted to be working with NI suppliers including Tern TV with Critical Incident and a yet to be announced new medical series, Alleycats with a new ambitious travel series, Afro Mic Productions with B and B by the Sea and also recently with Nice One Productions and Rare TV.
Kate Phillips
Director Of Unscripted, BBC
“Kate is responsible for the strategy and output of all Entertainment, Factual, Arts, Classical Music, Daytime and Events programming across BBC Channels and iPlayer, amounting to 3,000 hours of content a year.
Previously she was Director of Entertainment at the BBC, commissioning over 500 hours of original programmes a year, including shows such as Strictly Come Dancing, The Apprentice, Top Gear, The Graham Norton Show, Have I Got News For You, Would I Lie To You, Masterchef, University Challenge, Dragons’ Den, The Wheel, The Hit List, Drag Race UK, Freeze The Fear with Wim Hof, Eurovision and the BAFTA Awards.
During the pandemic Kate was Acting Controller of BBC One, overseeing all programmes on the channel, across Scripted, Unscripted and Sport. In 2014, Kate was the Creative Director of Formats for BBC Worldwide, overseeing over 200 scripted and non-scripted formats. Kate also created and ran the successful BBC training scheme Future Formats, and worked with the European Broadcasting Union helping to devise and establish the annual Creative Forum in Berlin.
Kate’s extensive TV production experience was garnered through producing shows for many broadcasters, as well as being a co-owner and Director of Mast Media, an award winning television formats company which developed multiple shows airing on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and internationally”.
