Charlie Parsons

Last updated

Charles Andrew Parsons is a British television producer known as the creator of the Survivor franchise. [1] He also created The Big Breakfast and The Word . [2]

Contents

Education

Parsons was educated at Tonbridge School, a boarding independent school in Tonbridge in Kent in South East England, and credits the tough boarding school regime he endured there in the early 1970s, which at the time was commonplace, as providing an inspiration for his creation of the series Survivor. [3] He then went to Pembroke College at the University of Oxford, where he studied English literature and afterwards trained as a journalist.

Life and career

The early days of Parsons's career saw him working at London Weekend Television on programmes including Network 7, which won a BAFTA award for originality. [4] Parsons co-founded production company Planet 24 with Bob Geldof and his partner Waheed Alli. Planet 24 created reality programmes including The Big Breakfast, The Word, and Survivor, which first aired in Sweden during the 1997 season. [1] [5] Planet 24 was sold to Carlton in 1999, but the owners kept the rights to Survivor. [5] Charlie Parsons is currently the Executive producer of the American version of Survivor going into its 46th season on CBS. [6]

Parsons has also developed and produced shows for the stage. [7] Parsons is developing Runaway Entertainment with Olivier-award-winning producer Tristan Baker. Girl from the North Country returns from its Broadway acclaim to The Gielgud Theatre in London and is one of the many shows developed and produced by Runaway Entertainment. [8]

Parsons founded The Great BBC Campaign, set up to provide a bold ambitious new mandate for the BBC, designed to build on the success of the impartial and independent broadcasting organisation. [9]

Related Research Articles

The BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU) is a department of BBC Studios that produces television, radio and online content with a natural history or wildlife theme. It is best known for its highly regarded nature documentaries, including The Blue Planet and Planet Earth, and has a long association with David Attenborough's authored documentaries, starting with 1979's Life on Earth.

<i>Robinson</i> (TV series) Swedish reality television series

Robinson, formerly Expedition Robinson, is a Swedish reality game show and the original version of the international Survivor format.

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.

Planet 24 is a television production company, which produced The Big Breakfast and The Word for Channel 4. It had an animation division called Impossible TV, founded in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trevor Dann</span> British writer and broadcaster

Trevor John Dann is an English writer and broadcaster best known for his radio and print journalism with BBC Radio, Q magazine, Mojo, and The Guardian, and his critically praised 2006 "Darker Than the Deepest Sea" biography of Nick Drake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigel Lythgoe</span> English film director and producer (born 1949)

Nigel Lythgoe OBE is an English television and film director and producer, television dance competition judge, former dancer in the Young Generation and choreographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Will Hanrahan</span> British producer and presenter

William Hanrahan is a British television/radio producer and presenter best known for working on BBC programmes such as Watchdog and Good Morning. Since 1994 he has headed an independent TV company which currently produces studio programming and documentaries for the BBC and Sky TV, A&E, Foxtel, Netflix, CBS, Discovery and UKTV. He is a three-times Royal Television Society Award winner and his programmes are currently airing in over 70 countries. He has executive produced for both the BBC and ITV working with Alistair McGowan on the BBC Restoration project, and Chris Tarrant on the BBC Four History of the World in 100 objects series. He is a law graduate with experience in consumer and legal programming. In 2013/14, Hanrahan also returned to radio presenting as a guest host on BBC Radio in 2014 and 2015. In 2017, his legal TV series 'The Jury Room' for CBS Reality also saw him present a six-part Podcast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenton Allen</span> British television producer and executive

Kenton Allen is a British television producer and executive. He became Chief Executive of Big Talk Studios 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.

<i>Survivor</i> (American TV series) American TV reality series

Survivor is the American version of the international Survivor reality competition television franchise, itself derived from the Swedish television series Expedition Robinson created by Charlie Parsons which premiered in 1997. The American series premiered on May 31, 2000, on CBS. It is hosted by Jeff Probst, who is also an executive producer along with Mark Burnett and the original creator, Parsons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Lambert (media executive)</span> British media executive

Stephen Lambert is an English television producer and executive who works in Britain and America. He is the chief executive of Studio Lambert, one of All3Media's production companies, which produces Gogglebox, Undercover Boss, Squid Game: The Challenge, Race Across the World, The Circle and The Traitors.

Richie Webb is a British comedy writer, actor and composer. He was educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School.

Robinsonekspedisjonen is a popular Norwegian reality television program debuting in 1999. In the fall of 1998 TV3 purchased the broadcast rights to air their own version of Expedition Robinson. The name alludes to both Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson, two stories featuring people marooned by shipwrecks.

Robinson Ekspeditionen is a popular Danish reality television program debuting in 1998. In the spring of 1998 TV3 purchased the broadcast rights to air their own version of Expedition Robinson. Following the success of the Swedish version, Denmark was the first country to adopt their own version of the show. The show has proven to be a ratings success since its premiere in 1998.

Suomen Robinson was the Finnish reality television program debuted in 2004. In the spring of 2004 Nelonen purchased the broadcast rights to air their own version of Expedition Robinson. Seeing the success of the Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish versions of the show TV4 assumed that their own version would also be a huge success. They were wrong in their assumption and due to competition from shows like Big Brother after two seasons the show was cancelled due to low ratings.

Expedition Robinson was the Swiss version of the Swedish reality show Expedition Robinson and it debuted in September 1999. Seeing the success of the Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish versions of the show TV3 in Switzerland decided to produce their own version of the show. Due to low ratings, the show was cancelled after just two seasons. At the time the show was cancelled the third season was nearly done being shot. Despite this the third season was never broadcast.

Expedition Robinson was the Central European version of Expedition Robinson. The name alludes to both Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson, two stories featuring people marooned by shipwrecks.

Kevin Loader is a British film and television producer. Since 1996, he and co-owner Roger Michell have run a London-based production company, Free Range Films, through which the pair have made several feature films directed by Michell, including The Mother, Enduring Love, Venus, Hyde Park on Hudson, and Le Week-end. Their most recent film is an adaptation by Michell of Daphne Du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel. The company is also developing and producing film and television projects with other directors. Loader was awarded the Bafta for Best Television Serial in 2015 for The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies.

Geoffrey Goodwin is a television and digital executive who has been active for 20 years in both the UK industry and his native Canada. Geoffrey was Head of Strategy for Drama, Entertainment, Comedy, Children’s and Film at the BBC from 2003 to 2007. He also wrote the BBC’s under 18s strategy with Andy Parfitt that helped set out the case for the BBC’s license fee negotiations in 2007. In 2007 Geoffrey set up BBC Switch; a multi-platform brand aimed at teenagers, which he ran for four years. In January 2013, after working for the then CEO of BBC Worldwide John Smith, Geoffrey founded his own production and talent management company, 40 Partners LTD.

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 NBCUniversal's third UK production venture following the acquisition of Carnival and the launch of WTTV, NBCUniversal's joint venture with Working Title Films, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.

References

  1. 1 2 Nylén, Susanne (12 February 2004). "Parsons blev miljonär på "Robinson"" [Parsons became a millionaire on "Robinson"]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  2. ↑ Robinson, James (25 March 2010). "Charlie Parsons invests in new TV production company NERD". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 11 August 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  3. ↑ Edwardes, Charlotte (3 June 2001). "Survivor game show based on public school". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  4. ↑ "Network 7 BAFTA". BAFTA Awards. During the time that Charlie Parsons worked on the UK's Channel Four youth programme "Network 7", in the late 1980s, it featured a short running island based elimination competition sub-strand series that can now legitimately be viewed as the back-door pilot test run prototype of the series format "Survivor" that he would later develop and Executive Produce for various international broadcasters.
  5. 1 2 Conlan, Tara (15 April 2007). "Interview: Charlie Parsons on his new investment company". The Observer. ISSN   0029-7712 . Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  6. ↑ "40th season of Survivor". Reality Tv World.
  7. ↑ "Never Forget". Runaway Entertainment.
  8. ↑ "Broadway Girl from the North Country". New York Theatre Guide.
  9. ↑ "The Great BBC Campaign". The Guardian. 7 February 2016.
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.