Robert
Thirkell to leave BBC to form own company
The
award-winning television producer Robert Thirkell is to leave the
BBC at the end of the year.
Robert
is to launch a television production company next year, and he will
continue to produce programmes for BBC Television.
Currently
Creative Director, BBC Business, Robert Thirkell has spent 15 years
building business programmes at the BBC into the most successful
in the world.
He
is the creator of some of the BBC's most successful factual formats,
including BAFTA winners Troubleshooter (presented by Sir John Harvey-Jones),
Back to the Floor, and Blood on the Carpet, and is widely credited
with bringing new mainstream audiences to business programmes.
Most
recently he has created four new brands for this winter, the first
of which And Me launched last week on BBC TWO to critical and audience
acclaim.
Robert
Thirkell began his BBC career in 1975 as as a clerk and later trained
as a studio manager at the BBC World Service.
In
1983 he joined the science department as a researcher on business
series.
He
produced his first Troubleshooter pilot in 1987 which was then commissioned
as a series. He became executive producer in 1993 with a remit to
build a BBC business programmes unit.
The
celebrated Trouble at the Top followed and he notably directed the
first in that series, Nightmare at Canary Wharf.
He
went on to create a raft of other business series from Naked City
to Dangerous Company and Investing for all with Alvin Hall.
In
2000, he jointly directed Trouble at the Big Top on the Millennium
Dome.
His
credits also include adventure series such as Speed, The Mission,
The Limit and Bluebird, Search for a British Legend, and the Grand
Designs engineering season; and the award-winning psychiatry series
Minders, with its accompanying mental health season.
In
Summer 2000, Robert was appointed Creative Director, to head a new
BBC business department, bringing together the BBC's weekly business
output, including the flagship Money Programme, currently enjoying
critical acclaim for its highly topical investigations.
Awards
for Robert have included to date BAFTAs for Troubleshooter (which
also won as TRIC award), Back to the Floor, Blood on the Carpet
(which also won a Royal Television Society award) and the BMA Gold
award and Medicine in the Media award for QED Family Game.
Robert
Thirkell said: "Having observed many businesses over the past
15 years, and worked closely with many of Britain's leading businessmen,
I am keen to put what I have learnt into practice.
"With
the unit firmly established and with such a proven reputation, now
is the ideal time to do it.
"I
am looking forward to more space to come up with big new ideas,
including in different areas. I look forward to continuing to work
with the BBC and bringing interesting insights to viewers."
Glenwyn
Benson, Joint Director of BBC Factual and Learning, said: "Robert's
work in the BBC has revolutionised the way business programmes have
been made for television, bringing them right into the mainstream
of the schedules, and bringing a younger audience to the subject
with popular series like Back to the Floor.
"I
am delighted that Robert will be continuing to make such a significant
contribution to BBC Television through his new company."
Jana
Bennett, Director of Television, BBC, said: "Robert is a highly
talented programme maker, a true pioneer in the field of business
programmes who invented new and striking formats and styles, from
Troubleshooter to Back to the Floor to The Money Programme, which
have brought a mass audience to this subject as well as huge accolades
to himself and his team and to the BBC over the years.
"I
look forward to continuing BBC Television's creative relationship
with Robert as he moves to his new role as an independent."
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