Blog Archives

Grime Kids

Grime Kids


I managed the unit, gallery and key art photography for this six part drama for BBC Three. This show is a seriously uplifting, joyful story of five teenage boys based in East London in the early noughties. Adapted from DJ Target’s book by playwright Theresa Ikoko, it was a delightful series to work on.

Key Art photographer: Hanina Pinnick
Unit Photography: Des Willie and Ryan O’Donoghue
© Mammoth Screen
(reproduced with permission)



The Crown S4

The Crown S4


I was delighted to help Netflix manage the publicity photography for the hugely popular drama, The Crown S4. I edited the unit photography, managed the retouching and global picture placements.

Photographer: Des Willie
© Netflix
(reproduced with permission)



This England

This England


This Sky drama, written by Michael Winterbottom, starred Kenneth Branagh as Prime Minister Boris Johnson and dealt with the first few months of the
Covid 19 Pandemic.

I commissioned and managed the unit photography for this project and also produced and directed the all cast gallery shoot, working closely with the inhouse team at Sky marketing.

Photographer: Phil Fisk
Post production design: Lee Binding
© Sky UK Ltd
(reproduced with permission)



Inside Man

Inside Man
(Promax Bronze winner 2023)


This was a project for BBC One and Hartswood Films. I was commissioned to develop the creative brief for the key art and gallery images for this dark drama written by Steven Moffat.

I also produced and directed the photoshoot and post production
design and retouching.

Inside Man starred:
David Tennant
Stanley Tucci
Dolly Wells
Lydia West

Photographer: Sam Barker
Post production design: Amy Fullalove
© Hartswood Films
(reproduced with permission)



Sanditon S2

Sanditon S2


This was a lovely six part period drama for Britbox/ITV and Masterpiece/PBS by Red Planet Pictures. I worked very closely with Premier PR to manage all aspects of the photography for this production, including unit, BTS, gallery and key art photography on location in Bristol.

Photographer: Joss Barratt
© Red Planet Pictures
(reproduced with permission)



Dalgliesh S2

Dalgliesh S2


Returning for Season 2! For Channel 5 and Acorn AMC by New Pictures starring Bertie Carvel. I managed all aspects of the unit, gallery and key art photography on location in N Ireland.

Key art and gallery photography: Helen Sloan
Unit Photography: Chris Barr, Stephan Hill and Rob Durston
© New Pictures
(reproduced with permission)



Dalgliesh

Dalgliesh


This was a six part period drama for Channel 5 and Acorn AMC by New Pictures starring Bertie Carvel. Dalgliesh is adapted from the PD James novels. I managed all aspects of the unit, gallery and key art photography on location in N Ireland.

Photographer: Chris Barr
© New Pictures
(reproduced with permission)



Sex Education S2

Sex Education S2


We brought the brilliant cast of Netflix drama Sex Education together for this editorial shoot to promote the second series launch in early 2020.

I produced this shoot for the Netflix team at fairly short notice and it turned out to be a really fun day!

Photographer: Matt Holyoak
Stylist: Kate Barbour
MUA: Liz Daxauer
Hair Stylist: Daniel Dyer
© Netflix
(reproduced with permission)



Sherlock Special

Sherlock


I’ve worked with Hartswood Films in some capacity on Sherlock since the first series. For this one off special, I looked at various creative concepts for the campaign shoot but, in the end, decided that simple was best. The new look for Sherlock and Watson is so strong that it does all the work we need it to without adding any other elements.

I managed the unit, portrait and key art photography for this one off Sherlock special.

Photographer: Robert Viglasky
Digital artwork: Mikel Camara
All images are (c) Hartswood Films



Requiem

Requiem
(Promax Gold winner 2018)


I managed all aspects of the photography campaign for this BBC One drama. Working alongside marketing, I decided to create two distinct key art images targeted at two very different audiences for this drama set in Wales.

The first image is for the mainstream audience and it’s designed to be understood immediately as a spooky drama centred around a young woman and a haunted house.

The second key art image was created to arrest and intrigue the youth audience and to encourage them to explore the Requiem publicity campaign further. It attempts to distill key elements of the six part drama into one powerful image, instantly conveying tone but also leaving our youth audience asking questions. The image is concept led and the scene did not appear in the drama but was directly inspired by the scripts and production design.
At its heart, Requiem dealt with a crisis of identity, but it was also deeply supernatural, with many script references to occultism throughout. Every element of the image seeks to convey a sense of deep unease and emotional crisis.  Colour was also an important consideration and the muted cyan tone helps to convey the chill in the air while providing the perfect backdrop to the protagonist’s platinum blonde hair.
In terms of composition, this image was designed to be truly multi-platform, working well online, on social media and in print, tolerating a variety of crops and formats without losing impact.

As well as working well for the audience this image got recognition from the advertising community in 2018 when it won gold at the Promax awards.

Photographer: Todd Antony
Retoucher: Geraint Williams
Principal unit photographer: Adrian Rogers

All images (c) New Pictures


Sochi Winter Olympics

Sochi Winter Olympics


Shooting sports presenters poses a unique challenge. They aren’t the athletes competing so to show them on the track etc doesn’t feel quite right, but what can you do to bring the portraits to life?

I worked closely with the creative agency making the on air trails for the Sochi Winter Olympics to make sure the presenter portraits were very much in line with the overall campaign direction. We shot the four presenters in a studio and used high res renders from the TV trail to create the final images.
As well as being used for the marketing campaign, these images were also released to the press and used to great effect on many covers and features, such as the Radio Times cover shown.

Portraits in order: Clare Balding, Hazel Irvine, Amy Williams, Jonathan Edwards

Photographer: Adrian Myers
Digital artwork: Kaia Zak
SFX make up artist: Bill Turpin
All images are © BBC
Radio Times cover is © Immediate Media



Luther S1

Luther S1


Luther is the police detective at the end of his sanity. Alice is the psychopathic, smart & cool killer. They both attract and repulse each other. They are entangled, same yet different, a duel, intellectual joust, spark, game…
(excerpt from my stills brief)

Luther is a gritty crime drama for BBC One starring Idris Elba.

I managed the unit, portrait and key art photography as a coherant image-led publicity campaign for BBC Worldwide (now Studios), working alongside colleagues in BBC Creative.

Unit and cast portrait photography was used extensively in the press and online.
The skyline shots of Luther were actually shot on the rooftop of a tower block in the city of London. No photoshop backplates here!

Photographer: Amanda Searle
All images are © BBC



Musketeers S3

Musketeers S3


Musketeers S3 was a BBC One drama production.

I produced and directed the key art and gallery shoot on location in the Czech Republic where we shot three versions of the key art image plus extensive cast portraits over three days. I also managed all post production design and retouching.

Alongside this I also managed the unit photography, using local Czech plus UK photographers.

This campaign was selected for the Behance curated gallery
Photography: The Best Projects Across all Creative Fields.

Key art photographer: Todd Antony
All images are © BBC



Upstairs Downstairs S2

Upstairs Downstairs S2


Upstairs Downstairs was a gorgeous costume drama for BBC One. I always love working on these series because the sets, costumes and locations are always stunning.

I managed the unit, portrait and key art photography as a coherant image-led publicity campaign.

The beautiful cast portraits were used extensively in the press as covers and feature leads.
The series group shot was very carefully planned and storyboarded before being shot in four parts as cast were available. Group shots like these are always tough to execute successfully!

Unit photographer: Nick Wall
Photographer: Jane Hilton
Retouching: Matt Burlem
All images are (c) BBC



Human Planet

Human Planet


While working for BBC Studios (Worldwide) I managed the stills photography for the landmark natural history programme, Human Planet.

Unlike the majority of natural history programmes by the BBC, for this series we were able to commission the photographer, Timothy Allen, to go on over 30 shoots with the film crew covering an incredible variety of peoples and locations. Tim delivered over 22,000 images which I spent many months combing through, finally editing the final collection down to just under 200 images.

It’s safe to say these are some of the most stunning documentary images I have ever worked with!

Once the final set of programme images had been finalised, I assisted with the ‘coffee table’ book and the huge international print and online publicity campaign, which included curating an exhibition of the best images shown at BBC Showcase.

Photographer – Tim Allen

All images (c) BBC Studios



The Fades

The Fades


This project was a great collaboration between BBC Creative and BBC Studios, who I worked for at the time. I commissioned and art directed the key art crow images and BBC Creative brought all the elements together to create the final artwork.
Yes that is a real crow!

Unit photography was also managed between the two teams.

Unit photographers: Dean Rogers and Des Willie
Key Art Photographer: Jonathan Ford
All images are (c) BBC



Attenborough at 90

Attenborough at 90


Directing and producing this project fulfilled my life long ambition to meet and work with Sir David Attenborough. It was a huge privilege!

This campaign was shot for the ‘Attenborough at 90’ programme and season on the BBC. The photography has been used for national and international press, large format print artwork, DVD jackets and social media.

Photographer: Sarah Dunn
All material (c) BBC 2016



Live Events

Live Events


As well as advertising and publicity photography, I also manage the photography for live events and the red carpet.
I manage red carpet logistics, press accreditation, stage pit access, event logistics, branding boards and live uploads to press.

These events are always very busy and require a cool head and good organisational skills, but they are always great fun.

All images © BBC



Class for BBC Three

Class


BBC Three drama Class is part of the Dr Who universe and aimed at a youth audience. It was written by the well known author, Patrick Ness.

We kicked off the campaign with the teaser image entitled ‘War is Coming’. (left, 1st image) The campaign then went on to feature a group shot which became the key art image, cast portraits (still and moving clips), and unit photography.

Unit Photographer: Simon Ridgway
Specials photographer: Todd Antony
Digital artwork: Geraint Williams
All images are (c) BBC



The Last Kingdom

The Last Kingdom


I have acted as creative consultant for series 1 and 2 of The Last Kingdom.
 
Photographer: Steffan Hill
All images (C) Carnival Film & Television Limited 2017


Upstart Crow

Upstart Crow


Great new comedy for BBC Two and part of the BBC’s Shakespeare Season. Stars David Mitchell, Harry Enfield, Paula Wilcox, Liza Tarbuck, Helen Monks, Gemma Whelan, Mark Heap and others.

For this campaign I looked at 16C and 17C portrait paintings. Craftsmen were often shown with the tools of their trade so we decided to surround Will with some of the beautiful props from the show. I briefed the photographer, Colin Hutton, to look at work by Rembrandt and how we might get a very painterly lighting feel.
The chicken is an in joke in the show – when Will feels particularly inspired to write, his poor chicken loses a lot of feathers! We shot the chicken seperately and put it together in post production but otherwise all other elements were captured in camera.

Photographer – Colin Hutton
Retouching – Mikel Camara
All images (c) BBC



Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell


This has to be one of my favourite briefs to date. After reading the scripts and the original book, I decided to take a certain key theme and rework it through these pictures. So the photography reads as beautiful character portraits but if you look more closely, you may start to see another story emerge 🙂
Clue – The Tarot!
I was lucky to work with photographer Todd Antony on this one who did a remarkable job bringing my original ideas to life, along with my colleague Kate Lawson who ran the shoot day for me when I was unable to attend at the last minute.

The key art campaign image earned photographer Todd Antony a space in Lürzers 200 Best Ad Photographers Worldwide 2015/2016.

I managed the unit, portrait and key art photography for this BBC One series. The key art image was licensed by Bloomsbury for the book jacket and the complete set was printed up as a mini tarot set. This set was sent to opinion formers ahead of the first transmission to create buzz around the launch.

Photographer: Todd Antony
All images are (c) BBC



The Whale

The Whale


Something a little different! I decided to do an underwater shoot for the BBC One drama, The Whale. It was a dramatic retelling of the fateful last voyage of the Nantucket whaleship Essex and the key art image and portrait of the lead actor were inspired by the moment in the script where the whale rams the Essex and the crew fall overboard.
This was shot at the Mediterranean Film Studios, Malta.

Photographer: Zena Holloway
Unit photographer: Nick Wall
All images (c) BBC



Big Blue Live

Big Blue Live


Stills shoot and digital poster for the BBC One eries, Big Blue Live.

This programme came live from California so the publicity campaign had to reflect that look and feel. Unfortunately we couldn’t shoot the presenters out in California so we did a studio shoot in the UK where we matched the lighting to specially shot backplates from Monterey Bay.
It’s always tough to make this kind of image look convincing but I’m really happy with how these worked.

Photographer – Lee Strickland
Digital artwork – Mikel Camara Gascon



Racing Legends

Racing Legends


This campaign was for the BBC Two series, Racing Legends.
I traveled to three different locations to produce and direct shoots with Sir Stirling Moss, Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Jackie Stewart but my favourite shot was of Sir Chris Hoy in North Wales.

Photographer: Stephen Perry
All images (c) BBC



Gender Season for BBC Three

Gender Season


These images were shot alongside the trail team using a macro lens to promote the BBC Three Gender Season. These images were designed to be used online and as on-screen bumpers.

All images (c) BBC



The Infinite Monkey Cage for BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage


The Infinite Monkey Cage with Prof Brian Cox and Robin Ince

This shoot for Radio 4 was a real highlight. Taking a high concept radio programme and creating successful publicity images can be really challenging, but I’m really pleased with what we achieved.

Photographer: Richard Ansett
All images (c) BBC



Nick Grimshaw

Nick Grimshaw


Campaign images to launch Nick Grimshaw (Grimmy) as the new host of the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show.

Photographer: Amit & Naroop
Retouching: Matt Burlem
MUA: Kevin Fortune
All images are (c) BBC



BBC Radio ‘Turn It Up’

BBC Radio ‘Turn It Up’


These images featuring James Massiah were shot on location to support the BBC Radio campaign, Turn It Up.

We worked closely with the trails team to capture some great portraits of James plus extensive behind the scenes images. They appeared in the press, online and in social media.

Photographer: Des Willie
All images (c) BBC



Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week

Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week


Publicity and unit photography for the BBC’s ‘Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week’.
The brief was to capture images which showed the action, pain and sheer effort of the competitors alongside the beautiful Welsh setting.
Photographers: Adrian Rogers and Warren Orchard
All images (c) BBC


Sex, Drugs & Murder

Sex, Drugs & Murder


This shoot came out of a BBC Three programme called Sex, Drugs & Murder. It’s an on-going documentary following the lives of sex workers in the Holbeck area of Leeds.

The budget was tight on this project and we had just 24hrs to capture compelling images with one of the key contributors, Sammie-Jo.

Photographer: Ben Blackall
All images (c) BBC