Will Hanrahan

Last updated

Will Hanrahan
Will-hanrahan.jpg
Will Hanrahan at the Insight Conference 2004
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Journalist, producer

William Hanrahan is a British television/radio producer and presenter best known for working on BBC programmes such as Watchdog and Good Morning. [1] Since 1994 he has headed an independent TV company [2] 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, [3] 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. [4] 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. [5]

Contents

Early life and education

Hanrahan grew up in Bootle, an area near Liverpool. He was educated at St. Benet's, now St. Benedicts, and St. Mary's College in Crosby and later completed an Open University degree, a law degree at Birmingham University and an MBA. [6]

Career

Hanrahan trained as a journalist on the Bootle Times newspaper. He subsequently embarked on a career as a radio and television journalist eventually presenting breakfast shows on BBC Radio York, LBC (London) and Sunday chat shows for syndicated BBC radio stations in the north of England, [7] BBC Look North (Yorkshire and North Midlands) [8] and BBC Spotlight where he fronted the regional news magazine alongside Jill Dando. For Network TV his early work was for BBC News notably working as a reporter during the Rwandan Civil War, presenting live from refugee camps and an orphanage in Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Zaire) at the height of the humanitarian crisis.

Hanrahan presented a range of other programmes for the BBC, including working as an investigative journalist for Watchdog , The Food Programme , Family Matters, On The Line, and Verdict. [9] He was a general presenter for the BBC TWO series, The Arts and Crafts Hour, and was a contributor to the mid-1990s BBC mid-morning programme Good Morning with Anne and Nick . [1] and also, alongside Sarah Greene, Good Morning Summer. [10] He helped devise and front the BBC TWO mid-evening series, Out+About, with David Gower, Suzanne Dando and Jeremy Guscott which ran for four series and then became the face of the Sky Computer Channel .tv. During this time he clinched factual, factual entertainment and entertainment series for ITV, UKTV, BBC and Channel 5 with Hanrahan working principally as a Producer.

His presenting work was mainly restricted to longer term investigative programming though he did front the Channel 5 German-formatted series Hanrahan Investigates in 2010 [11] and in 2017 and 2018 he presented for CBS in the UK fronting The Jury Room. The programme re-examines real murder cases where convicted killers have always maintained their innocence. Drawing on his investigative journalist background, Hanrahan led a so-called People's Jury to reach a fresh verdict. [12]

Presenting outside of the BBC

As a presenter, he fronted Serve You Right a consumer rights series for Meridian T.V. [13] presented Buyers Guide and Blue Chip for BSkyB's .tv technology channel. [14] and, in 2007, for the Sunday Breakfast show for BBC Radio Coventry & Warwickshire. [15]

In 2008 he presented Suffolk Strangler for Sky Television, the story of the serial killer, Steve Wright. He then self-produced Dunblane – A Decade On for Channel Five. [16] In 2009, Hanrahan was a reporter and writer of a series of Documentaries related to Crime for Sky TV.

Alongside his documentaries, he has produced entertainment programming such as the four-year ITV series, Star Lives, and the BBC comedy Trexx and Flipside. [17]

Hanrahan Media

Hanrahan launched his own media production company, Hanrahan Media, in 1994, with Fatherhood, a series of TV essays for BBC One. [1] Programs produced by the company include Star Lives for ITV 1, SuDoKu Live for Sky one, and Carol Vorderman's Brain Game, as well as documentaries for ITV [18] and Channel Five. [19] In 2008/09 the Hanrahan-produced Trexx and Flipside became the first sit-com produced for the BBC out of the English Midlands. The six-part series featured viewer-generated Hip-Hop and a largely new-to-TV cast. [20] Hanrahan also developed a comedy-panel show for UK channel 'Dave' which ran for two series. Street Cred SuDoKu lampooned anything and everything that had ever been fashionable before disappearing from popular culture. [21]

The company has received a Royal Television Society award for Best Entertainment in 2002 for Stars And Their Lives, and in 2009 for Best News and Current Affairs and Best Documentary. [22]

firstlooktv

Firstlooktv [23] launched in 2010 specifically to make documentaries and gaining commissions from ITV with Going to Work Naked, [24] "Norway Massacre:The Survivors", Channel 5, [25] the Crime and Investigation Channel, [26] with "Evil Up Close" [27] and the Arts and Entertainment network's International division in New York. [28] Additional episodes of the series premiered in Australia late 2012 and the UK in Autumn 2012. In 2013 and 2014, firstlooktv became one of the first British companies to win a direct commission from an Italian broadcaster as its series Segreti, Bugie e Omicidi (Secrets, Lies and Murders) premiered. [29] From 2014 until 2018, FirstLookTV produced over 120 hours of documentary television with series airing on UKTV, Netflix, CBS and A&E.

Throughout the period, firstlooktv also gained commissions with the BBC featuring presenters Alistair McGowan, Chris Tarrant and Adrian Chiles. McGowan fronted a BBC One "Restoration" special, [3] Tarrant presented a History programme charting the importance of canals to the success of Britain's Industrial Revolution. [30] whilst Chiles fronted a special 1966 retrospective for BBC ONE. Firstlooktv was also commissioned to produce the BBC football series Late Kick Off.

Other activities

Hanrahan's hobbies include following Everton Football Club and supporting the Arts. He was chair of an Arts venue in Stratford Upon Avon from 2012 to 2016, The Stratford ArtsHouse. [31] and is a governor of Compton Verney Arts gallery and grounds. He is an active contributor to the community of Stratford Upon Avon where he has chaired Stratford Vision, [32] a non-political group made up of businesses, local authority members and charities.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Robinson</span> English actor, author and campaigner (born 1946)

Sir Anthony Robinson is an English actor, author, broadcaster, comedian, presenter, and political activist. He played Baldrick in the BBC television series Blackadder and has presented many historical documentaries, including the Channel 4 series Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History. He has written 16 children's books.

Television broadcasts in the United Kingdom began in 1932, however, regular broadcasts would only begin four years later. Television began as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection of free-to-air, free-to-view and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channels for consumers as well as on-demand content. There are six main channel owners who are responsible for most material viewed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITN</span> British-based news and content provider

Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaus and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UKTV</span> Multi-channel broadcaster, subsidiary of the BBC

UKTV Media Limited, trading as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios, a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through a joint venture between the BBC and Thames Television. It is one of the United Kingdom's largest television companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alibi (TV channel)</span> Digital television channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom

Alibi is a British premium television channel that was launched on 1 November 1997 as UK Arena. It was renamed UK Drama in 2000, and then UKTV Drama in 2004, and assumed its current name on 7 October 2008.

Paul Ross is an English television and radio presenter, journalist and media personality.

Elizabeth Sarah Greene is an English television presenter. She co-presented Blue Peter from May 1980 until June 1983, and hosted the Saturday-morning series Saturday Superstore and Going Live!.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anita Rani</span> British broadcaster and journalist (born 1977)

Anita Rani Nazran, better known as Anita Rani, is a British radio and television presenter.

<i>5 News</i> British news programme

5 News at 5, also known as Channel 5 News, is the flagship news programme of British broadcaster Channel 5. It is produced by ITN from its main newsroom on London's Gray's Inn Road, and has been broadcast since Channel 5's launch in March 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christine Lampard</span> TV presenter

Christine Louise Lampard is a Northern Irish broadcaster. She has presented various television programmes with Adrian Chiles, such as The One Show (2007–2010) and Daybreak (2010–2011), while with Phillip Schofield she has presented Dancing on Ice (2012–2014) and This Morning. Lampard has also presented factual series for ITV including Off The Beaten Track (2013) and Wild Ireland (2015). Since 2016 she has been a presenter of the ITV lunchtime chat show Loose Women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alastair Layzell</span>

Alastair Layzell is an independent television producer who started his career as a reporter for Channel Television and later served nine years as a deputy of the States of Jersey, becoming President of the Home Affairs Committee, President of the Jersey Transport Authority and Vice-president of the Planning & Environment Committee.

Andy Steggall is the multimedia manager at the Ordnance Survey and a former television sports presenter, producer and filmmaker. He produced the South and West edition of the BBC regional football show Late Kick Off and has been working for Sky on several other projects. He runs two television production companies specialising in sport – Pergall Productions and Pergall Media. He has previously worked for TVS, Meridian, ITN, Setanta, Channel 4, Sunset + Vine, TWI and GMTV.

Sameena Ali-Khan is a British media personality who is known as a television presenter, journalist and newsreader. She is also a published author.

Trexx and Flipside is a multi-platform British sitcom shown as part of BBC Three's spring schedule and produced by FirstLookTV with Executive Producer Will Hanrahan. It follows the story of Trexx and Flipside, two "wannabe hip hop stars". The duo are managed by "Wu Hah Management", as shown in the first episode. The show premiered on Sunday, 6 July 2008 at 11PM.

Marverine Cole is a British radio and television presenter and news reporter from Birmingham, England.

This is a list of British television related events from 2004.

Chris Rogers is a British broadcast journalist specialising in investigative journalism, and news presenter. He is among the long line up of presenters that began their career presenting BBC Newsround moving on to present and report for Sky News including its BAFTA Award-winning coverage of the 9/11 attacks. He then joined the Channel 4 RI:SE presenting team before heading to ITN's ITV News, and ITV's Tonight documentary series, where he presented and reported for London Today, London Tonight, ITV Evening News and produced and fronted numerous investigations for the News at Ten and the Tonight programme as ITV's Investigative Correspondent. He left ITN in 2009 to present BBC News.

Ben Robinson is a British archaeologist and television presenter who currently works for Historic England. He has appeared as a contributor and presenter for Channel 4, ITV and the BBC.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Will Hanrahan Profile". Archived from the original on 26 April 2005. Retrieved 26 November 2006.
  2. ↑ "First Look TV" . Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  3. 1 2 "West Midlands, Restoring England's Heritage – BBC One". BBC.
  4. ↑ "Hanrahan Media Training Page". Archived from the original on 8 February 2005. Retrieved 26 November 2006..
  5. ↑ "CBS Reality moves into Jury Room". C21media.
  6. ↑ "Former Pupils". St Mary's College, Crosby. Archived from the original on 14 May 2010.
  7. ↑ "BBC - North Yorkshire - BBC Radio York - BBC Radio York's photo album". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  8. ↑ "TVARK Presenters". www2.tv-ark.org.uk. 2 February 2017. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  9. ↑ "//genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1993-05-20".{{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  10. ↑ "Good Morning Summer". The Radio Times. 8 June 1995. p. 92. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  11. ↑ "Hanrahan Investigates". www.imdb.com. 10 December 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  12. ↑ "on CBS Reality". www.cbsreality.tv. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  13. ↑ "Serve You Right (TV series)". bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013.
  14. ↑ "Will Hanrahan's archived profile". Archived from the original on 15 February 2001. Retrieved 2 February 2001.
  15. ↑ "Will Hanrahan's BBC Radio Coventry & Warwickshire profile" . Retrieved 2 February 2001.
  16. ↑ "Welcome to firstlook tv". First look TV. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  17. ↑ "Trexx and Flipside - BBC Three". BBC. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  18. ↑ http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/itv-watches-naturists-at-work/1095670.article Broadcast Magazine
  19. ↑ http://www.channel5.com/shows/norway-massacre-the-survivors Channel 5
  20. ↑ "Trexx and Flipside – BBC Three". BBC.
  21. ↑ http://.imdb.com/title/tt1390459/
  22. ↑ "2009 RTS Midlands Awards Winners". RTS Midlands center weblog (wordpress). 20 October 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
  23. ↑ "Home – First Look TV". First Look TV.
  24. ↑ "Going to Work Naked – First Look TV". firstlooktv.co.uk.
  25. ↑ "Norway Massacre: The Survivors". Channel 5.
  26. ↑ "Recommended". crimeandinvestigation.co.uk.
  27. ↑ "Evil Up Close". crimeandinvestigation.co.uk. 30 June 2017.
  28. ↑ "First Look heads to US with Evil Up Close". broadcastnow.co.uk.
  29. ↑ "Segreti, bugie e omicidi: i casi italiani Stag.1 – Crime – On Demand – Sky Go – Sky.it". skygo.sky.it.
  30. ↑ "History of the World: Brindley Lock". BBC. 12 May 2010.
  31. ↑ "Centre stage for Stratford ArtsHouse - Stratford Town Trust". www.stratfordtowntrust.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 February 2015.
  32. ↑ "New business Vision needed for Warwickshire town". thebusinessdesk.com. 14 September 2011.
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.