Producer Profile: Lion Television (UK)
April 1, 2007 by
Brendan Christie
Lion Television
London
Diversity is really the buzzword when it comes to Lion Television. Consider just a few of the projects the company has on the go or recently delivered in the last year or so: Lion returned one of the granddaddies of factual entertainment series to the air when it delivered a new season of Castaway to the BBC, five years after the last season aired; Alan Titchmarsh took viewers on a four-part tour of the UK under the sun in The Great British Summer; BBC4 featured the 90-minute Lion special on American architect Daniel Libeskind to much acclaim (several readers commented on its accessibility and level of entertainment); Discovery commissioned the stunning South Africa Atlas, with two more of this signature series to come; and Cash Cab has topped a remarkable 1,000 episodes internationally.
And that’s just what Lion’s got going on in the UK. Lion USA adds projects such as SWAT USA, History Detectives and Science Investigators, among others.
It’s not an easy formula: diversity, volume and quality. It takes some doing to pull it off, but Lion manages to do it with remarkable consistency.
Recent titles: Castaway, Libeskind, Cash Cab
Employees: 150
Hours this year: 212
Upcoming includes: Athens: The Truth About Democracy (C4/PBS), Indian School (BBC4), Columbus (History Channel), Britain’s Best (UKTV History)
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Factual Entertainment Forum 2011 - Beata Hegedus, VP formats and entertainment at Viasat Broadcasting UK, during the “Crossing Borders” panel at the Realscreen Factual Entertainment Forum.