Avalon has hired Toby Ward as Head of UK Production for comedy, entertainment and scripted.
Ward spent eight years at Burning Bright Productions as Director of Production, overseeing shows including Joanna Lumley’s Silk Road Adventure (ITV), 50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy (Sky), Almost Royal (BBC America), and Richard E Grant’s Hotel Secrets(Sky). This followed a 15-year role as Head of Production (Comedy & Entertainment) for Tiger Aspect, working across shows including Benidorm (ITV), Harry & Paul (BBC), The Catherine Tate Show (BBC), The Vicar of Dibley (BBC), Ross Kemp on Gangs / in Afghanistan (Sky), and Joanna Lumley’s Nile (ITV).
With this newly created position, Ward will report to Avalon’s global Director of Production, Joanna Beresford, with whom he also worked at Spitting Image in the 1990s, and will work alongside Lydia Arding, Head of UK Production (Factual & Documentaries) and Kathy Welch, US Senior VP Production.
Joanna Beresford, Director of Production at Avalon, said: “We’re incredibly pleased to welcome Toby to Avalon. At a time when the entire industry has to navigate one of the most complex moments in production history, his first-rate expertise and experience are invaluable as we work to meet our current and future production commitments.”
Toby Ward said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the team at Avalon. I’ve been a long time admirer of their shows and I’m delighted to be working with Joanna again and to be joining the company at such an exciting time.”
Avalon series currently in production include: Not Going Out (BBC), Taskmaster (Channel 4), Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), Starstruck (HBO Max/BBC), Everything’s Gonna Be Okay (Freeform), Spitting Image (BritBox), Breeders (FX/Sky), The Russell Howard Hour (Sky), The Iliza Shlesinger Sketch Show (Netflix), and multiple comedy specials for Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max and Netflix.
Ward will be based at the company’s London headquarters.
Jon Creamer
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