Label1 co-founder and Joint CEO Simon Dickson is stepping down from the Fremantle label.

Dickson set up production company in 2015 with Lorraine Charker-Phillips.

Dickson will leave the company in 2023, continuing to work as a consultant Executive Producer on key projects to ensure a smooth transition. Co-founder Charker-Phillips will assume Dickson’s other responsibilities, supported by Label1 Chief Operating Officer Jo Taylor. Fremantle retain a controlling stake in the company, having increased their shareholding in 2021, and Charker-Phillips and Taylor will both report into Fremantle UK CEO Simon Andreae.

The company’s upcoming slate includes Soldier, a six-part series for BBC One. Previous projects include Worlds Collide: The Manchester Bombing (ITV), Nurses on the Ward (UKTV) and School (BBC Two), plus Five Dates a Week (Channel 4) and The Family Brain Games (BBC Two). Both The Family Brain Games and Five Guys a Week have spawned international remakes, with the latter produced in ten territories including America.

Since its launch, the company’s shows have secured a string of accolades, including a Royal Television Society award, two BAFTA nominations and two Grierson Awards nominations for its flagship series Hospital, which has run for seven series so far, whilst Label1 was named Emerging Indie of the Year in the Broadcast Awards last year.

Simon Dickson said: “It might sound like a bit of a cliché but after going hard at it for more than three decades at the BBC, then Channel Four, then Dragonfly, and most recently Label1, the 2020 lockdown was a bit of a wake-up call. I came to the realisation that after thirty years of soaring highs and crashing lows, there might be a way forward that wasn’t all late nights and adrenalin. I concluded that I didn’t have a particularly good work-life balance, so I decided to do something about it.

“Setting up my own business with Lorraine and Jo has been the most exciting and enjoyable period of my career. They will thrive without me because they are both brilliant and they have the support of our backers Fremantle UK who are just the best.”

Lorraine Charker-Phillips said: “Simon has been a brilliant creative partner to work alongside over the last seven years. He has helped drive Label1 to create content that Fremantle and our teams are incredibly proud of, and he will be missed by all of us.”

Simon Andreae, CEO, Fremantle UK, said: “Simon is a creative force who, alongside Lorraine, has turned Label1 into a powerful and distinctive brand known for their creative thinking and exceptionally high-quality programming. Together they have grown a thriving team and produced some of the best non-scripted shows in recent years. Whilst we are very sorry to see him go, we all wish him every success in his next chapter.”

Prior to Label1, Dickson was a commissioner at Channel 4, pioneering the use of studio-based multicamera rigs in real life environments, creating and commissioning The Family, 24 Hours in A&E and One Born Every Minute and revamping First Dates. In his time as Creative Director and then Managing Director at Dragonfly, he received a BAFTA-nomination for The Plane Crash (C4/Discovery).

Jon Creamer

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