TV

Big Talk Productions has blossomed since its launch by Nira Park in 1995. Kenton Allen, the former BBC Creative Head Of Comedy, became Chief Executive in September 2008 as part of a simultaneous strategic investment from BBC Worldwide, which became a minority shareholder in the company.

Big Talk now has a dynamic slate of original TV comedy and drama with all the major UK Broadcasters and continues to attract exceptional talent. Simon Curtis (Cranford, Five Days), Robert Popper (Peep Show, Look Around You) and Luke Alkin (Former Head of C4 Drama) are all part of the core creative team.

Rev, starring Tom Hollander, reached a huge audience on BBC Two and received plaudits from the critics and praise from the Archbishop of Canterbury. It won a BAFTA for Best Sitcom, an RTS nomination for Best Scripted Comedy and The South Bank Show Award for Best Comedy. Tom Hollander also received BAFTA and RTS-nominations for his performance as Adam Smallbone.

Him & Her, starring Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani, was BBC Three’s most successful sitcom launch ever …

Friday Night Dinner, written and produced by Robert Popper and starring Tamsin Greig, Simon Bird, Paul Ritter and Tom Rosenthal, was a ratings winner for Channel 4 …

All three original series have been recommissioned and second series are already underway.

New for 2011 is Chickens, a WW1 period comedy written by and starring Simon Bird, Joe Thomas and Jonny Sweet for Channel 4, and Threesome, a sitcom for Comedy Central.

Also new to Big Talk this year are the entertainment series Show Me The Funny hosted by Jason Manford for ITV and King Of… presented by Claudia Winkleman for Channel 4.

This year Big Talk has also made its mark in America; NBC has commissioned a series based on their Channel 4 show Free Agents. Starring Hank Azaria, it will be broadcast in the US from September.

Big Talk’s first television series was the cult hit Spaced, which starred Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes and Nick Frost, written by Simon and Jessica and directed by Edgar Wright. Free Agents (C4, 2009) starred Stephen Mangan, Sharon Horgan and Anthony Head, was written by Chris Niel and directed by James Griffiths.

International distribution of finished shows is handled by BBC Worldwide.