North One expands development team

Factual, factual entertainment and sports production specialist North One is expanding its development team in London and Birmingham, with three internal promotions and the appointment of former BBC Studios producer Yvonne Murray.

North One’s Head of Development, Ben Cooper, becomes Creative Director, Development, with Yvonne Murray joining as Development Producer. Tom Hawgood is promoted to Development Executive from Development Producer, with Samita Sall elevated to Assistant Producer from Development Researcher.

Murray, who will report to Cooper, will lead North One’s development efforts in Birmingham, where she will work on established series, as well as aiming to expand North One’s reach across regional commissioning departments. Murray has spent her career to date working in Birmingham and has developed programmes in-house at the BBC and for a range of production companies including Wonder Productions, Remedy TV and IWC Media.

Cooper has worked in Development at North One for the last eight years and has a background in high-profile factual entertainment and live programming. He began his career at 12 Yard and has held posts at Endemol and ITV working on, among others, Big Brother and I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!

Neil Duncanson, North One’s CEO, said: “We are committed to nurturing our existing talent and these promotions are testament to the skill and expertise of Ben, Tom and Samita, and reflect their increased responsibilities as we look to expand our reach. We are equally committed to expanding our long standing regional operation in Birmingham and I am really pleased to bring someone of Yvonne’s calibre into the development department, where her deep knowledge of the regional production landscape and her drive for excellence will set us up for further success in the region and beyond.”

North One is an All3Media company and recently marked 350 episodes of the Birmingham-produced Gadget Show and this year will see the 20^th anniversary of its Fifth Gear franchise, also produced in the region, alongside Travel Man and all of Guy Martin’s Channel 4 programming.