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Kathleen Hutchison is a British television producer, whose credits include Playing the Field , Holby City (of which she was the Series Producer, then Executive Producer for many years) and Casualty @ Holby City.
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Kathleen Hutchison is a British television producer, whose credits include Playing the Field , Holby City (of which she was the Series Producer, then Executive Producer for many years) and Casualty @ Holby City.
On 21 September 2004, Hutchison was appointed Executive Producer of the BBC television soap opera EastEnders , after Executive Producer, Louise Berridge, resigned following prolonged critical and public criticism of the show.
Hutchison was appointed Executive Producer of EastEnders by Mal Young following a prolonged tenure as Executive Producer and critical acclaim for her work at "Holby". Within a few weeks of Hutchison's appointment Mal Young had moved on, being replaced by John Yorke, a previous Executive Producer of EastEnders.
Hutchison was given the task of reversing the fortunes of the BBC's flagship soap; in previous months viewing figures had suffered when up against ITV1's Emmerdale . During her time at EastEnders Hutchison won Soap Storyline of the Year.
During her time at the soap Hutchison axed multiple characters, and reportedly ordered the rewriting of numerous scripts. In January 2005, Hutchison left the soap and commented: “I’ve enjoyed my brief time at EastEnders and wish the show the very best."
John Yorke, BBC Controller of Continuing Drama Series, took total control of the show himself and became acting Executive Producer for a short period, before appointing Kate Harwood. John Yorke said, “Kathleen has done a fantastic job of managing EastEnders during this period of change - I am very grateful to her for all her hard work and for leaving the show in such a strong position for us to build on.” [1]
Hutchison moved from drama to comedy in 2005 setting up The Hutch Management, working with stand-up comedians and developing comedy projects for stage and television including a pilot sketch show for Feelgood Fiction starring Nathan Caton in January 2007 and a 30 minute narrative comedy Standing-Up, written by Tommy Mack.
In February 2007, Hutchison joined television channel Paramount Comedy as Head of New Comedy. Her remit was to develop and nurture new talent from the comedy circuit. She has already worked with names such as Rob Rouse, We Are Klang and Jim Jefferies under the banner Shortcuts.
In summer 2007, Hutchison was a judge at the IF.Comedies, formerly the Perrier prize at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
EastEnders is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the programme follows the stories of local residents and their families as they go about their daily lives. Within eight months of the show's original launch, it had reached the number one spot in BARB's television ratings, and has consistently remained among the top-rated series in Britain. Four EastEnders episodes are listed in the all-time top 10 most-watched programmes in the UK, including the number one spot, when over 30 million watched the 1986 Christmas Day episode. EastEnders has been important in the history of British television drama, tackling many subjects that are considered to be controversial or taboo in British culture, and portraying a social life previously unseen on UK mainstream television.
Mal Young is a British television producer, screenwriter and executive producer.
Casualty (stylised as CASUAL+Y) is a British medical drama series that airs weekly on BBC One. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 6 September 1986. The original producer was Geraint Morris. Having been broadcast weekly since 1986, Casualty is the longest-running primetime medical drama series in the world.
Letitia Jane Dean is an English actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Sharon Watts in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. An original cast member from 1985 to 1995, she reprised the role from 2001 to 2006, and again from 2012 onwards. For the role, she was awarded the British Soap Award for Outstanding Achievement in 2022.
Holby City is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999; the show ran until 29 March 2022. It follows the lives of medical and ancillary staff at the fictional Holby City Hospital, the same hospital as Casualty, in the fictional city of Holby, and features occasional crossovers of characters and plots with both Casualty and the show's 2007 police procedural spin-off HolbyBlue. It began with eleven main characters in its first series, all of whom subsequently left the show. New main characters were then periodically written in and out, with a core of around fifteen main actors employed at any given time. In casting the first series, Young sought actors who were already well known in the television industry, something which has continued throughout its history, with cast members including Patsy Kensit, Jane Asher, Robert Powell, Ade Edmondson and John Michie.
Tony Jordan is a British television writer. For many years, Jordan was lead writer and series consultant for BBC One soap opera EastEnders. He has written over 250 episodes for the programme since 1989, including the 2008 single-hander "Pretty Baby....". He created the series Hustle, HolbyBlue, City Central, Moving Wallpaper, Echo Beach, The Nativity, The Passing Bells and Dickensian, and co-created Life on Mars and By Any Means.
Louise Berridge is a British historical fiction writer. She was previously a television producer and script editor, her most famous post being the executive producer of BBC's EastEnders between 2002 and 2004. During her tenure, the long-running soap opera received heavy media criticism and ratings slumped to just over 6 million viewers.
Kate Harwood is a British television producer. She became managing director of the revived Euston Films in summer 2014.
Gillian Wright is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Jean Slater on the BBC soap opera EastEnders since 2004, for which she has won numerous awards. She previously worked as a drama teacher and a theatre director before occupying acting roles.
Marc Bannerman is an Irish-born British actor. He played Gianni di Marco in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. His character was introduced in 1998, but was written out three years later by the executive producer of EastEnders, John Yorke. He has since appeared on various television and reality television programmes, including I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2007. He starred as Patsy Richardson in the TV show Snatch based on the film by Guy Ritchie. He also appeared in Sky One's Agatha Raisin as the victim PC Beech in 2020.
The first series of the British medical drama television series Holby City commenced airing in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 12 January 1999, and concluded on 9 March 1999. The show was created by Mal Young and Tony McHale as a spin–off from the BBC medical drama Casualty, intended to follow the treatment of patients from Casualty as they were transferred onto the hospital's surgical wards. McHale served as the programme's lead writer throughout the first series, which ran for nine episodes. Young cast actors who were already established names in the acting industry, particularly from a soap opera background. Several cast members shadowed real surgeons and nurses in preparation for their roles to increase the show's realism. The series received mixed reviews from critics. It was compared favourably with Casualty, but received negative reviews in which it was contrasted poorly with the American medical drama ER. The series première attracted 10.72 million viewers, falling to 8.51 million by the series finale.
Kathleen Beedles is a British producer, who has worked on a total of over 2500 episodes of various British soap operas to date. She grew up in Rogart and now resides in London.
Tony McHale is a British actor, writer, director and producer, who is known for starring in Coronation Street and also known as a "stooge" to Jeremy Beadle on Game For A Laugh and later Beadle's About. He trained at the Rose Bruford College. He also enjoyed a long stint as a writer/story consultant/director on the top rated BBC1 soap opera EastEnders from its conception to the mid 1990s. He co-created BBC medical drama Holby City, and served as its executive producer and showrunner from 2007 to 2010. McHale also served as a core writer on numerous other TV dramas.
Corinne Ann Hollingworth is a British television producer and executive, best known for her contributions to British soap operas, including BBC's EastEnders and five's Family Affairs. Hollingworth has gained a reputation for winning huge drama audiences by concentrating on human interest storylines.
Jayne Grayson is a fictional character in the BBC medical drama Holby City, portrayed by actress Stella Gonet. The character first appeared on-screen on 10 July 2007 in episode "Under the Radar" – series 9, episode 39 of the programme. Her role in the show was that of chief executive officer of the Holby City Hospital Primary Care Trust, making her the only regular character who is not a medic by profession. Gonet formerly appeared as a doctor in Holby City's sister show Casualty, and has since appeared in crossover episodes of the drama, this time as Jayne Grayson. Her storylines in Holby City have revolved around issues of hospital bureaucracy, as well as her husband's affair with her colleague Connie Beauchamp. A two-part episode which saw Jayne fight the hospital's board of directors and the British government over the separation surgery of the conjoined twin daughters of illegal Korean immigrants proved a critical success, and was positively received by many tabloid TV critics.
Barbara Emile is a British television producer. Emile contributed to the BBC soap opera EastEnders for several years. She first started working on the serial as script editor underneath producer Leonard Lewis, and she began producing the programme in 1992. Following the departure of Lewis in 1994, Emile was promoted to Executive Producer. Storylines that aired under her tenure included Sharongate, Nigel and Debbie Bates' wedding, and Ricky Butcher's love triangle with best friends Bianca Jackson and Natalie Price. Barbara cast actress Barbara Windsor as Peggy Mitchell. Innovating the writing talent, Emile introduced a pioneering structure to develop writing talent, led by Tony Jordan, Tony McHale, Ashley Pharaoh and Matthew Graham. In 1994 Emile took the programme from twice a week to three times per week. Under Emile's stewardship she led the series onto achieve ratings of 23 million viewers. Characters introduced included Tiffany Raymond, Roy and Barry Evans. She remained with EastEnders till early 1995 and was succeeded by Corinne Hollingworth.
The twelfth series of the British medical drama television series Holby City commenced airing in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 20 October 2009. The series deals with the repercussions of the death of ward sister Faye Byrne's son Archie, including the resignation of consultant Connie Beauchamp and the return of former registrar Thandie Abebe-Griffin. It also focuses on staff members' romantic and family lives. F1 Oliver Valentine becomes romantically involved with registrar Jac Naylor and ward sister Daisha Anderson, and his sister Penny embarks on a secret romance with a heart transplant patient. Consultant Linden Cullen is reunited with his estranged daughter Holly, nurse Donna Jackson decides to adopt her half-niece Mia, sister Chrissie Williams gives birth to a son, Daniel, and Faye becomes pregnant by her estranged husband Joseph. The series includes a crossover episode with sister show Casualty and it also has the highest number of episodes to date, as the series contains a small number of episodes which air during the same week.
John Roland Clifford Yorke is a British television producer and script editor, who was head of Channel 4 Drama 2003–2005, controller of BBC drama production 2006-2012 and MD of Company Pictures (2013-2015).
Kate Oates is a British television producer, who was born in Nottingham and graduated from Warwick University. She began her career working as a researcher and editorial assistant for Germaine Greer, before becoming a script editor for the soap opera Crossroads. In 2003, she joined the radio soap The Archers as a producer, a position which Oates credits as the majority of her training. After resigning from this job, Oates began working on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale as a script editor, during which time she assisted with the soap's fortieth anniversary celebrations and worked on British Soap Award-winning storylines. She remained in the position until 2012 when she joined Coronation Street as the assistant producer.