Simon Nye and Sophie Clarke Jervoise launch Genial Productions with investment from ITV Studios

Published: Tue 25 Sep 2018

Simon Nye and Sophie Clarke-Jervoise have teamed up to launch Genial Productions, a new comedy drama indie, with minority investment from ITV Studios.

Nye, the award-winning writer behind hit shows The Durrells and Men Behaving Badly, and Clarke-Jervoise, former BBC Head of Comedy and MD of Tiger Aspect will focus on returning comedy and comedy drama series.

Simon and Sophie have between them created, written and produced hundreds of hours of shows across many platforms, all with broad appeal. Nye's work has spanned theatre, sitcom, drama, adaptations, animation and film. Clarke-Jervoise has exec produced, produced and developed some of the UK's most successful comedy series including Benidorm, Harry Enfield & Chums, Mount Pleasant, Bad Education, The Vicar of Dibley, Blackadder Back & Forth, and The Catherine Tate Show.

Maxine Gardner, Finance Director ITV Studios UK, will take a seat on the Genial Productions' board and will provide support to Genial during its start-up phase.

ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVSGE) will be Genial's distribution partner for all original formats created under its banner.

This is the latest step in further building ITV Studios UK and Global production to meet the global growing demand for high quality scripted entertainment across all platforms.

Julian Bellamy, Managing Director, ITV Studios said: Simon and Sophie have an enviable record of creating, writing and producing some of the best loved, most famous comedy and comedy drama of the past twenty years. They are fantastic creative talents and we look forward to working with them and watching Genial Productions thrive .

Simon Nye added: This is a huge thrill. I've been writing TV for 30 years and am looking forward to expanding my horizons into production. Sophie is better than anyone at creating popular shows and getting them onto the air, and I have experienced ITV's great expertise first hand on The Durrells. What can possibly go wrong?!

Sophie Clarke-Jervoise said: Having enjoyed working with Simon over the past 20 years, now feels the right time to consolidate our shared experience and we're excited at the prospect of new joint endeavours. ITV Studios are a perfect fit for us so we're delighted to have their support and experience.

For further information contact: tessa.matchett@itv.com

LINK:	https://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/simon-nye-and-sophie-cl...
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