Audio producer Unedited has brought in a pair of factual TV veterans to help drive its push into documentaries and formats.
Black Ruby Pictures managing director Maxine Watson, a former BBC documentaries commissioning editor and ex-head of production for Twenty Twenty, joins as a creative executive, while Pat Younge, the former BBC chief creative officer who co-founded both Sugar Films and Cardiff Productions, has joined Unedited's board.
Watson is currently executive producing Nutopia’s Netflix series African Queens and her credits include Who Do You Think You Are, A House Through Time and The Great Pottery Throw Down.
Working with United alongside her current TV projects, she said she wanted to help the company “take advantage of the boom in interest in audio, not only as a creative force in its own right, but as an incubator of standout ideas for the screen and stage”.
Younge, who is also a non-executive director at ITV Studios and runs his own label, Skin In The Game Studios, described Unedited as “a trailblazing podcast company that’s black-owned and black-led with a reputation for top quality, award-winning work”.
He added: “I’m backing their shift into original podcasts and formats because, despite all the diversity initiatives, we need a much bigger shift in the stories being told and the people empowered to tell them.”
Unedited founder Bernard Achampong said he wanted to build on recent podcast Sounds of Black Britain and Radio 1Xtra’s Throwback Party show.
“Our creative ambitions span all genres particularly formats - a hot-bed of IP development across the broadcast industry,” he said. “Our shift to originals is also about creating space for new voices and ideas and we have the creative crossover between audio and television very much in our sights.”
United is showcasing five new formats in Pilot Season, which it will release across all major podcast platforms on 13 March. These are:
Facts That Matter, a look at the facts and human stories behind controversial statistics, presented by journalist – and Pat Younge’s brother – Gary Younge
The Last Set, an interview format that asks a well-known DJ to curate their final dream gig.
Sneakerists, in which 1Xtra’s Joelah Noble and TalkSport’s Ade Oladipo look through their guests’ sport shoe collections
The Values Compass, in which Madeep Rai talks to guests including the Dalai Lama about the essential characteristics of their home countries
Best Summer Ever, which reunites three friends to share memories of a memorable group holiday
