Channel 4 invests in Nick Mirsky's Five Mile Films

Channel 4’s Indie Growth Fund has taken a minority stake in Five Mile Films, the Bristol-based, factual indie led by Nick Mirsky. 

Five Mile Films is the first Channel 4 Indie Growth Fund investment in Bristol since the broadcaster announced it would be locating a new Creative Hub in the city.

Five Mile Films was set up in September last year. The team includes Anna Llewellyn, who has directed shows such as A Very British Hotel, Inside Birmingham Childrens’ Hospital and 24 Hours in A&E and former Dragonfly Head of Production Yvonne Bainton.  Five Mile Films also recently announced its first series commission, “The Dog House”, for Channel 4 and as it grows will specialise in producing cross-genre projects often mixing drama with documentary, popular factual multi-part series as well as authored and observational factual output.

Nick Mirsky was previously Head of Documentaries at Channel 4 where he ran the team responsible for series including 24 Hours in A&E, Educating Yorkshire and First Dates. Prior to that Mirsky worked at the BBC across Documentaries, Arts and Business output where he was the Executive Producer responsible for Louis Theroux,  the BBC 2 Documentary strand “Wonderland” and a range of single documentaries and dramas including “When Michael Portillo became a Single Mum” and “Maxwell”.

Caroline Murphy, Head of the Channel 4 Indie Growth Fund said: “Nick has an excellent track record as both a commissioner and a programme maker so we’re looking forward to helping him build a creative team who can produce at scale outside of London.”

Nick Mirsky said: “I am delighted to be teaming up with the Channel 4 Indie Growth Fund and really look forward to growing a business in Bristol.”

The Indie Growth Fund was launched in 2014 and has made 16 investments to date and there are now 12 companies in the portfolio including Barcroft Studios, Eleven Film, Firecrest Films, Lightbox, Parable, Spelthorne Community Television, The RightsXchange (TRX), True Vision Yorkshire, Two Rivers Media, Voltage TV and Whisper Films.