Passion Pictures has hired wildlife filmmaker Tom Hugh-Jones from Plimsoll to boost the company’s natural history offering.

Hugh-Jones joins in a newly established role, opening Passion Pictures’ office in Bristol.

Hugh-Jones will be working alongside five-time Emmy-winning MD of Passion Planet, David Allen to develop a portfolio of “ambitious genre-defining” Natural History projects.

David Allen, MD & EP of Passion Planet, says; “It is very exciting to have such a huge talent join Passion Planet’s team. We both share a vision for pushing the envelope in the natural history genre, and, from development to directing, Tom’s impressive editorial skills provide a fantastic opportunity to work together on some really ambitious and innovative productions.”

Tom Hugh-Jones says, “For me, it is all in the name. Passion is a company that puts creative integrity first and enables the best filmmakers to do their best work. Passion’s track record in documentaries is unparalleled and they’ve been behind some of the most original and admired wildlife films ever made. The opportunity to build on this pedigree in the premium natural history space is very compelling”.

During his time at the BBC Natural History Unit Hugh-Jones developed, directed, and produced key titles including Planet Earth, Human Planet and Life Story. He was Showrunner on the global phenomenon Planet Earth II.

He joins Passion from Plimsoll where he originated and directed the upcoming A Real Bug’s Life which premieres on Disney+ this week. During his seven-year tenure as Creative Director for Natural History, he developed, wrote and produced numerous award-winning hit shows including:  Tiny World for Apple TV+, Hostile Planet for National Geographic and Night on Earth for Netflix.

CEO Passion Pictures, Nick Southgate says, “Planet Earth II and Tiny World are two of my favourite natural history series of all time. The chance to work with the showrunner of these extraordinary pieces of TV was a no-brainer. I can’t wait to dig in with Tom and Dave and create a new era of intelligent, big wildlife shows.”

Headshot of Tom Hugh-Jones courtesy of Passion Pictures 

Jon Creamer

Share this story

Share Televisual stories within your social media posts.
Be inclusive: Televisual.com is open access without the need to register.
Anyone and everyone can access this post with minimum fuss.