Bea Ballard

Last updated

Bea Ballard (also known professionally as Beatrice Ballard;) is a British television executive producer. She is chief executive of 10 Star Entertainment, a production company set up in 2009 with investment from Fremantle. [1] She is the daughter of novelist J. G. Ballard.

Contents

Ballard co-devised a string of Saturday night entertainment programmes for BBC One, including How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do while creative head and executive producer at BBC Entertainment between 2003 and 2007. [2]

Education

Ballard was educated at St David's School, Middlesex and read English and American Literature at The University of East Anglia, where her tutors included Malcolm Bradbury, Lorna Sage, and Angus Wilson. Following her graduation, she took a one-year post-graduate Diploma in Journalism at London's City University. She completed this with Distinction[ citation needed ], and won a scholarship[ citation needed ] to the New Statesman , where she trained as a reporter and researcher.

Television career

Ballard started her television career at the BBC, on John Craven's Newsround , where she worked as a journalist and assistant producer. She worked at London Weekend Television in Entertainment where she produced a wide range of entertainment shows, from the An Audience... specials (with Peter Ustinov and Billy Connolly, among others), to The Late Clive James, to Michael Aspel and Company, to BAFTA Awards. [3]

David Liddiment invited Ballard to join BBC Entertainment as Head of Talk and Specials. This led to her devising a number of event specials – from the 2-hour gala celebrating BBC TV's 60th Anniversary in 1996, TV 60 – Aunties All Time Greats, to BAFTA Awards, to Ruby Wax Meets Madonna , to documentaries series such as the Emmy winning Carrie Fisher on Hollywood (aco-production with A&E).

She devised the Clive James weekly entertainment show Saturday Night Clive. Following its success on BBC2, the show transferred to BBC1.[ citation needed ]. Ballard also produced the majority of Clive James' other output for the BBC. She devised and produced the 8 part documentary series Fame in the Twentieth Century a co-production with PBS, shown both in the UK and the US. Ballard also produced the documentary series for BBC ONE in which Clive James profiled various cities around the world in Clive James's Postcard from... (1990–94) from Paris; New York; Miami; Paris.

Ballard created and executive produced many specials for BBC One, from One Night With Robbie Williams at the Royal Albert Hall (winner of Silver Rose of Montreux for Best International Music Programme), to Elton John at the Royal Opera House, to the BAFTA Tributes series of celebrity specials -Victoria Wood, Billy Connolly, Ronnie Barker, Judi Dench. She also oversaw all of the BBC's Eurovision programming.

While Creative Head of BBC Entertainment Events, Bea Ballard put forward to the then Controller of BBC One, Peter Fincham, the idea of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? . She successfully got the series commissioned, and off the ground. The programme was the first time that a West End musical had been cast via a television show, with the public voting on contestants drawn from open auditions held all over Britain. The programme has spawned other continuations of the format, such as Grease for ITV and NBC in America. The format is also being adapted internationally for a number of other musicals. [4]

Following the How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, the BBC developed Any Dream Will Do , the search to cast the lead in Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat .

Ballard also worked with Stephen Fry on Weekend for BBC Four. The weekend included the documentary 50 Not Out, and the programme Guilty. She helped to persuade Ronnie Barker to come out of retirement and reunite with Ronnie Corbett to make The Two Ronnies Sketchbook series.

Ballard re-launched the Parkinson chat show hosted by Michael Parkinson for BBC One. The show featured top international talent – from David and Victoria Beckhams' first solo and joint interviews, to Paul McCartney's first interview following the death of wife Linda, to George Michael and Hugh Grant's first interviews since their lives were affected by scandal.

Chairman of BAFTA Television Committee

Ballard was elected Chairman of the BAFTA Television Committee, and served from 2001 to 2003. Prior to this position, she was elected to BAFTA Council & served for six years. She was also Chairman of the BAFTA Events Committee for two years, producing a number of keynote speeches with channel controllers and she launched The Independent View – a series of interviews and profiles of the television industry's leading independents. During her tenure at BAFTA, she expanded its television programming through the development of the BAFTA Tributes series. She also oversaw annually the television juries and chaired many herself, ranging from drama to comedy.

Ballard programmes for BBC One

BBC TWO: Saturday Night Clive

BBC FOUR Stephen Fry Night

Related Research Articles

Ronnie Barker English actor, comedian and writer

Ronald William George Barker was an English actor, comedian and writer. He was known for roles in British comedy television series such as Porridge, The Two Ronnies, and Open All Hours.

<i>The Big Impression</i>

The Big Impression, known as Alistair McGowan's Big Impression for the first three series, is a British comedy sketch show. It features Alistair McGowan and Ronni Ancona impersonating personalities from entertainment and sport. Four series and a number of specials were made by Vera Productions and it was first broadcast on BBC One between 2000 and 2004.

<i>Parkinson</i> (TV series) British television chat show

Parkinson is a British television chat show that was presented by Michael Parkinson. It was first shown on BBC1 from 19 June 1971 to 10 April 1982 and from 9 January 1998 to 24 April 2004. Parkinson then switched to ITV on which the show continued from 4 September 2004 to 22 December 2007. A series entitled Parkinson One to One was produced by Yorkshire Television from 28 March 1987 to 23 July 1988.

Kevin Paul Jackson, credited as Paul Jackson; sometimes as K. Paul Jackson, is an English television director, producer and executive, known for his production roles within the BBC, ITV, and previously, Carlton and Granada. His most famous television work includes The Two Ronnies and The Young Ones, and as the original producer for the sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf. In 2006, Jackson was named Director of Comedy and Entertainment at ITV.

British Comedy Awards

The British Comedy Awards was an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom between 1990 and 2014, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year.

Bill Cotton

Sir William Frederick Cotton was a British television producer and executive, and the son of dance band leader Billy Cotton. The TV and radio presenter Fearne Cotton is related to him, as he was her paternal grandfather's cousin.

Anne Wood, CBE is an English children's television producer, responsible for creating shows such as Teletubbies with Andrew Davenport. She is also the creator of Tots TV and Rosie and Jim. She was a recipient of the Eleanor Farjeon Award.

The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the BAFTA. They have been awarded annually since 1955.

Ruth Jones Welsh actress, writer and producer

Ruth Alexandra Elisabeth Jones is a Welsh actress, comedian, writer and producer. She co-wrote and co-starred in the award-winning BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey.

Sharon Horgan Irish actress, writer, and comedian (born 1970)

Sharon Lorencia Horgan is an Irish actress, writer, comedian, and producer. She is best known for the comedy series Pulling (2006–2009) and Catastrophe (2015–2019), both of which she starred in and co-wrote. She also created the HBO comedy series Divorce (2016–2019).

Peter Kosminsky British writer, director and producer (born 1956)

Peter Kosminsky is a British writer, director and producer. He has directed Hollywood movies such as White Oleander and television films like Warriors, The Government Inspector, The Promise, Wolf Hall and The State.

So Television

So Television is a production company established in 1998, founded by Irish comedian Graham Norton and Graham Stuart to make television shows. The company is well known for producing Norton's chat shows, including So Graham Norton and V Graham Norton for Channel 4 and The Graham Norton Show for BBC One and BBC Two. The company also produces various shows for BBC Radio 4 under the name of So Radio. So Television and So Radio are based in London, England. On 30 August 2012, ITV Studios acquired So Television for an estimated £17 million.

Kenton Allen

Kenton Allen is a British television producer and executive. He became Chief Executive of Big Talk Productions in September 2008. He is a multi-award–winning programme-maker with credits including the BAFTA Award-winning sitcoms The Royle Family and Rev. and the Oscar-winning film Six Shooter. He was the Advisory Chair of the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival 2012.

Geoffrey Harold Posner is a British television producer and director. Posner has directed and produced some of Britain's most successful comedy shows since the early 1980s.

Stephen Lambert (media executive)

Stephen Lambert is an English television producer and executive who works in Britain and America. He launched the TV formats Wife Swap, Faking It, The Secret Millionaire, Undercover Boss and Gogglebox.

Kindle Entertainment is an independent television production company based in London, England. Kindle Entertainment was formed after ITV Kids was closed, and current personnel includes Anne Brogan, the former controller of ITV Kids, and former head of development at ITV Kids, Melanie Stokes.

The Triple Crown of Acting is a term used in the American entertainment industry to describe actors who have won a competitive Academy Award, Emmy Award, and Tony Award in the acting categories, the highest accolades recognized in American film, television, and theatre respectively. Its term is related to terms from other competitive areas, such as the Triple Crown of horse racing.

Monkey Kingdom is an independent British television production company based in London, United Kingdom, with offices in Los Angeles. Established by David Granger and Will Macdonald in 2000, the company was acquired by NBCUniversal International Networks in 2010. Monkey was NBC Universal's third UK production venture following the acquisition of Carnival and the launch of WTTV, NBC Universal's joint venture with Working Title Films’ Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.

The 2020 British Academy Television Awards were held on 31 July 2020, hosted by British director and comic actor Richard Ayoade.

References

  1. ↑ Deans, Jason (6 December 2005). "McCall chatshow marks return for Bea Ballard". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 April 2009. Retrieved 18 March 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ↑ "BBC Press Office - Parkinson - Russell Crowe and Kylie Minogue". BBC.
  4. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 April 2009. Retrieved 18 March 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.