Indie Minnow Films has recruited Liam Humphreys to the newly created position of Head of Constructed Factual.
The former Fremantle UK CEO and Channel 4 Head of Factual Entertainment and Popular Factual will take charge of the RTS-winning SAS brand, which also includes Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
He will report to Creative Director Sophie Leonard and the company’s senior management team and joins in June.
Minnow’s founder and CEO Morgan Matthews said: “Liam is a fantastic catch. Not only is he one of our industry’s most experienced and talented creatives widely regarded for his brilliant mind, but he has a long and proven track record in large-scale, ambitious, and entertaining unscripted. We’re incredibly excited by his appointment and sure that he will build his department and help take Minnow to the next level.”
Sophie Leonard said: “We are delighted that Liam is joining us and can’t wait for his creative input into our powerhouse SAS series, as well as growing our constructed factual branch of the company. We love creating innovative constructed series at Minnow that bring together our strong documentary background, packaged into a simple but smart construct. Liam is the perfect person to do this with us.”
Humphreys said: “I’m delighted to be joining Minnow at such an exciting and pivotal time in their growth, leading on SAS – a show that I love, working closely with Sophie and Morgan, creative executives with outstanding reputations whom I greatly admire, and having the opportunity to build a department in my favourite genre for an indie with an enviable reputation. Minnow have set the benchmark for quality unscripted content and I’m thrilled to be working alongside such talented, creative colleagues and to contribute to the company’s future success”.
Founded in 2006, Minnow Films’ productions have won 12 BAFTAs, nine RTS awards and four Griersons across multiple genres including documentary, scripted and constructed factual. Beyond SAS, its output includes ‘Crime Stories: India Detectives’, ‘Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King’ and ‘Bad Boy Billionaires’ for Netflix. ‘The Detectives: Fighting Organised Crime’, ‘DNA Family Secrets’ with Stacey Dooley, ‘Katie Price: Harvey and Me’, ‘Canny Cops’, ‘War in the Blood’, ‘The Last Survivors’ and drama ‘Damilola, Our Loved Boy’ for the BBC, ‘Mother Teresa: For the Love of God?’ for Sky, as well as ‘The Yorkshire Job Centre’ and dramas ‘The Watchmen’ and ‘Shamed’ for Channel 4.
Since its launch in 2015, the SAS brand has grown to include two seasons annually, one civilian, one celebrity, with production teams of approximately 150 people and a fixed camera rig of 42 cameras.
One of the pioneers of constructed factual formats in the UK, Humphreys has played an integral role in delivering some of the UK’s biggest series in the genre, overseeing high-profile returning shows such as ‘Harry’s Heroes: The Full English’, ‘60 Days On The Streets’, ‘The Island with Bear Grylls’, ‘The Jump’, ‘The Undateables’, ‘Child Genius’, ‘Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares’ and ‘Big Fat Gypsy Weddings’.
Humphreys was Head of Factual Entertainment and Popular Factual at C4, before joining Fremantle UK as CEO. Since then, he has consulted for Discovery, where he helped devise and implement a new commissioning strategy as it shifted to Discovery+ first commissioning model, for C4, where he has been leading the commissioning effort for the channel’s 40th anniversary, and for indies including Studio 99 / David Beckham Ventures, Twofour, The Garden, Honey Bee Media and Nuwave Pictures.
Jon Creamer
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