Former Reef Television chief executive Richard Farmbrough has re-teamed with freelance executive producer Owen Rodd to launch factual indie Somersault Studio.
The London and Cardiff-based company’s debut commission, Gareth Malone’s Passion, will air this Easter and it has travel and history projects and a music-based podcast in the works.
Farmbrough set up Reef in 2003 and was chief executive the indie until its acquisition by Zinc Media in 2015, when he stayed on as commercial director of the parent company for three years. Zinc subsequently closed the indie, along with sister label Blakeway North, with the launch of Red Sauce.
Since then, Farmbrough has worked as a consultant and ran digital platform Must-See TV.
The pair met in 2010 and Rodd has produced Reef shows including BBC1’s Britain’s Hidden Heritage, series produced Channel 4’s Flying Across Britain and executive produced two series of Penelope Keith’s Hidden Villages.
As a freelancer, Rodd has also worked for the likes of Rumpus Media, Woodcut Media, Skyworks, Arrow Media and Wall to Wall.
Fambrough is executive chair of Somersault, while Rodd becomes creative director. Former Reef managing director Paul Hanrahan is also working for the indie as a consultant.
In Gareth Malone’s Passion, the choirmaster will train up eight singers for a special performance of Bach’s St John Passion with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Singers on the 300th anniversary of the work’s first performance.
Their progress will be tracked across a pair of 60-minute docs airing on BBC1 on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, ahead of BBC2’s broadcast of the concert.
Farmbrough said: “It is immensely exciting to be back in the production game with the multi-talented Owen Rodd, this time with a remit to create factual content for a truly broad range of customers.
“The opportunities to reach audiences in this continually fragmenting market are huge, but as producers we need to be more nimble and agile than ever before – somersaulting our way through the media landscape.”
