BBC Studios Production has appointed Expectation’s Amy Flanagan to lead its Documentary Unit.
The Documentary Unit sits across London and Scotland and recent and returning titles include Thatcher: A Very British Revolution, Louis Theroux, Life And Death Row, Sacred Wonders, Imagine, Princess Margaret: The Rebel Royal, and American History’s Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley, all for BBC Content and Stay Free: The Story of The Clash for Spotify from the digital team. The team in Scotland also secured BBC Studios Production’s first fully-funded commission in China –a brand new landmark factual series for Migu, China Mobile’s digital content subsidiary, telling the remarkable story of tea.
Reporting into new Factual Director Tom McDonald, Flanagan will lead the creative team and strategy for The Documentary Unit, now merging with Pacific Quay Productions in Glasgow and Aberdeen and the digital team in London.
Amy Flanagan joins BBC Studios from Expectation, where she has been Co-Creative Director – Factual, since 2017. Her recent commissions include BAFTA and Grierson-nominated arts documentary Superkids- Breaking Away from Care for Channel 4 and returning series Travels in Trumpland with Ed Balls for BBC Two.
Flanagan was previously Deputy Head of Factual at Channel 4, promoted from Deputy Head of Documentaries, having joined in 2014 as a Documentaries Commissioning Editor. During this time she commissioned 24 Hours in Police Custody, Hunted and multiple award-winning documentaries, including the Murder Detectives, My Son the Jihadi and The Romanians are Coming. She also established the Cutting Edge Directors Scheme to nurture young directing talent.
Prior to Channel 4, Amy Flanagan worked at The Garden, making the first series of the award-winning 24 Hours in A&E and BAFTA-winning Bedlam for Channel 4. Other credits include the BAFTA-nominated series Keeping Britain Alive for BBC2, the RTS award-winning The Victorian Sex Explorer with Rupert Everett, and the BAFTA award-winning Feltham Sings.
Ralph Lee, Director of Content, BBC Studios said: “Amy Flanagan is a highly respected and awarded specialist factual and documentary-maker, who is great at empowering and nurturing film-making talent. I’m thrilled she is joining BBC Studios to build on our strong heritage and creativity in this area.”
Amy Flanagan said: “The Documentary Unit at BBC Studios has an extraordinary history of working with some of the best off-screen and onscreen talent in the industry. I’m really excited to build on that history and reputation to help deliver the best of British documentary making to audiences in the UK and around the world.”
She will start her new role in December.
Staff Reporter
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