ABOUT

CEO & CREATIVE DIRECTOR - UNLIMITED DREAMS

Production and development of prime-time entertainment programming.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: THE JONATHAN ROSS SHOW – ITV

Bea Ballard was invited by ITV to take over at the helm of The Jonathan Ross Show, in 2013. Under her management and editorial direction, ratings doubled. She has successfully overseen 11 series of the show, which remains a staple of ITV Saturday nights.

CEO & EXECUTIVE PRODUCER – 10 STAR ENTERTAINMENT

Bea Ballard left the BBC after being approached by Fremantle Media to set up 10 Star Entertainment with their backing. Within 6 months of setting up, she won commissions from ITV and created a number of successful prime time shows for ITV. Ballard and her team created talent format series Show Choir Challenge, which featured groups of young people singing and dancing in competition. The format was sold internationally. They also produced high-rating ITV event special Boyzone Tribute to Stephen Gateley.

CREATIVE HEAD – BBC ENTERTAINMENT

As Creative Head of BBC Entertainment Events, Bea Ballard was a key figure in the renaissance of Saturday night entertainment television at the BBC. Ballard created and Executive Produced a string of blockbuster Saturday night BBC ONE hits, including talent show format How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria and Any Dream Will Do. She built her department into one of the most original and successful production departments within British television. Running her own development team, she won successive new commissions for BBC ONE.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria won Best Entertainment Programme at the 2007 International Emmy Awards, and was also crowned Best Entertainment Programme at both the Royal Television Society Awards, and at The Broadcast Awards. The hit Saturday night series was described by the jury as:

Maria was also nominated for Best Entertainment Programme at the 2007 BAFTA Television Awards, and for the 2007 Golden Rose. How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria won not only critical acclaim but also excellent viewing figures: 8.6 million for its series finale. The format was adapted internationally for a number of other musicals.

Following the success of Maria, Ballard developed Any Dream Will Do, the search to cast the lead in Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s West End production of Joseph. The series was another big hit for BBC ONE - achieving strong ratings with a series peak of 8.3 million.

PARKINSON

Ballard came up with the idea of re-launching and modernising the Parkinson format, and persuaded Michael Parkinson to return to the talk show stage. Parkinson quickly re-established itself as the leading talk show in Britain. Ballard successfully Executive Produced 11 series of Parkinson, winning many awards and critical acclaim. The programme regularly achieved ratings of 9 million on BBC ONE on Saturday nights, and won Best Talk Show at the National TV Awards for 5 consecutive years.

EVENT TELEVISION

Bea Ballard created and Executive Produced a number of high-profile, award-winning, “event” specials for BBC ONE, including One Night With Robbie Williams at the Royal Albert Hall (winner of Silver Rose of Montreux for Best International Music Programme), Elton John at the Royal Opera House, and BAFTA Tributes to: Victoria Wood; Billy Connolly; Ronnie Barker; Judi Dench.

Ballard oversaw all of the BBC’s Eurovision programming, one of BBC ONE’s highest rating annual shows.

For the Think Big initiative Ballard devised the idea of a landmark event on BBC ONE to highlight environmental & conservation issues - this led to the commissioning of the Saving Planet Earth season on BBC ONE.

CHAIR OF BAFTA TELEVISION COMMITTEE

Bea Ballard was elected Chair of the BAFTA Television Committee, and served from 2001-2003. Prior to this she was elected to BAFTA Council & served for six years. She was also Chair of the BAFTA Events Committee for 2 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 key independents. During her tenure at BAFTA she helped build the organisation’s brand both domestically and internationally, with a number of key events at BAFTA and an expansion of its television programming – most notably the development of the BAFTA Tributes series. She also oversaw annually the television juries and chaired many herself, ranging from drama to comedy.

EARLY TELEVISION CAREER

Bea Ballard joined BBC Entertainment to create her own unit of programming, Talk and Specials, which led to her re-launching Parkinson. She also devised a number of event specials: a 2 hour gala celebrating BBC TV’s 60th Anniversary: TV 60 – Aunties All Time Greats; The BAFTA Film and Television Awards; Ruby Wax Meets Madonna, and the Emmy award-winning Carrie Fisher on Hollywood (co-production with A&E).

After forging a successful relationship with Clive James at London Weekend Television, Clive James and his Executive Producer Richard Drewett invited Ballard to join them at the BBC. Ballard co-devised, and Series Produced, the award-winning and innovative weekly entertainment show Saturday Night Clive.

Ballard devised and Series Produced major 8 part-documentary series Fame in the Twentieth Century, a co-production with PBS, which played to large audiences in both the UK and the USA, and won an Emmy.

Ballard produced documentary specials for BBC ONE in which Clive James profiled various cities around the world - Clive James Postcards - from Paris; New York; Miami.

Prior to joining the BBC Ballard worked at LWT Entertainment, where she produced a wide range of high-profile entertainment shows, including:  An Audience With - Peter Ustinov; Billy Connolly; The Late Clive James, Aspel and Company, The BAFTA Awards.

Bea Ballard started her television career at the BBC as an Assistant Producer on John Craven’s Newsround, after completing a post-graduate Diploma in Journalism at London's City University and graduating from the University of East Anglia with a degree in English and American Literature.