The esteemed and highly regarded Sally Debonnaire prepares to retire from full-time production management after a forty year career
Four Heads of Production also named within Group
19th October, 2021 - ITV Studios has announced a number of senior production management appointments following a restructure which will ensure the group is best-placed to meet the growing demands of the global content business as it grows UK and international production.
Three new Directors of Production will individually oversee UK Scripted, UK non-scripted and international production, supporting the creation of outstanding and distinctive content across all ITV Studios labels and indies.
The new roles have been created alongside the decision by long-standing Director of Production, Sally Debonnaire, to retire from full-time production management by early 2022. Debonnaire, who joined ITV Studios in 2012, leads its global production management teams and has overseen the expansion of Studios to a 60 strong production label business. Sally leads Studios production strategy and implementation across the group, including Duty of Care, producing during Covid, technological innovations and is passionate about developing generations of production - as well as mentoring, guiding and leading in-house colleagues, Sally is ITV's representative on the ScreenSkills Board to contribute to a pan-industry approach to production skills and training.
Matt Cleary and Helen Killeen take on the roles of Director of Production for scripted and non-scripted respectively, reporting into David McGraynor, Chief Operating Officer, with Ben Russell taking on the role of Director of Production International and reporting directly to Lisa Perrin, Managing Director, International Production.
Meanwhile, Jeanette Moffat takes up the role of Head of Production at Lifted Entertainment and Alice Gairdner will do so at ITV Studios Daytime, while in Continuing Drama, Nader Mabadi and Lee Rayner take up the position at Emmerdale and Coronation Street respectively.
Julian Bellamy, Managing Director of ITV Studios said: We're working in a huge period of change for our industry, and with ITV Studios' strategic ambition to continue to grow UK and International production, the task is only going to get bigger and production management is vital in delivering this.
Matt, Helen and Ben will lead teams that are capable of driving innovation and the sharing of best practice across all our UK and international businesses and I'm delighted to have them on board. It is also testament to the strength of the talent we have working for us that Jeanette, Alice, Nader and Lee have all been promoted to their new roles.
Julian added: Sally will remain at ITV Studios for the next few months and we'll all have the chance to say a proper goodbye to her sometime next year. In the meantime, it's typical of Sally's leadership that she's put in place such a well organised transition plan with a brilliant production management team.
Further Information on Sally Debonnaire
Sally began her career in the media industry over 40 years ago. Her early years were spent at London Weekend Television on programmes including Game For A Laugh, World of Sport, Blind Date and Dempsey and Makepeace. This was followed by a five year spell as a freelancer working for major independent companies.
Sally joined Talkback Productions in 1993 as Head of Production, becoming Managing Director in 2002. During this time she was a key member of the senior team leading rapid expansion as Talkback grew from a niche supplier of comedy into one of the best known and most successful companies spanning comedy, drama, entertainment, factual and documentaries with such iconic series as The Day Today, The Lost Prince, QI, Smack The Pony, Never Mind The Buzzcocks and Grand Designs. As Chief Operating Officer of TalkbackThames, she was responsible for successfully merging the two with over 1000 hours of programming including Brass Eye, Ali G, The Bill, Green Wing, The X Factor and The Apprentice.
As Managing Director at Avalon Television, Sally oversaw the relaunch of Harry Hills TV Burp and the launching of Not Going Out before joining the BBC as Controller Production Operations, Vision Productions, where she was responsible for the overall operations function for Vision Productions, the BBCs in-house production department. She was accountable for the day-to-day management of the production slate including programmes such as EastEnders, Strictly Come Dancing, Top Gear, Antiques Roadshow, The Thick of It and Frozen Planet. In addition to her production content responsibilities, Sally was the Vision lead for Training and Development, Sustainability and Health and Safety.
Further information on Matt Cleary, Helen Killeen and Ben Russell
Matt Cleary has over 25 years of experience, beginning his career in Entertainment, before moving into continuing drama at ITV Studios. In 2019, he was appointed Head of Production for Drama and Continuing Drama providing leadership and oversight to a growing slate of productions including high-end drama series such as Vera, Shetland and The Bay.
Helen Killeen started her career in factual and documentaries before moving to Daytime, where she played a key role in the launch of Good Morning Britain. In 2014, she was appointed to the role of Head of Production Daytime overseeing seven and a half hours of daily live television.
Ben Russell has been part of ITV for over 23 years, with his first 15 years spent in entertainment productions as both a production manager and a line producer on many successful reality, studio and location based productions. He moved to ITV Sport as head of production operations in 2013, where he was responsible for commercial, logistical and operational aspects of the sport production portfolio. This incl
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
January 8, 2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), a leader in high-performance, on-s...
07/05/2026
February 9, 2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning pioneer i...
07/05/2026
March 20, 2024
NAB 2024, Las Vegas - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-awa...
07/05/2026
April 1, 2025
CINEMACON, APRIL 1, 2025 - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming syste...
07/05/2026
June 15, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), an Academy and Emmy Award-winning de...
07/05/2026
June 15, 2025
Colorfront participated in the ICTA Barcelona Cinema Technology Summit on Sunday, June 15, 2025. Held at The Phenomena Experience, the event feat...
07/05/2026
July 1, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...
07/05/2026
July 1, 2025
Passion and dedication will take you places. Come with us on a short trip to the heart of India, where Annapurna Studios is living-up to the inspi...
07/05/2026
July 3, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...
07/05/2026
September 1, 2025
IBC 2025, Amsterdam - Colorfront (colorfront.com) - the Acade...
07/05/2026
April 17, 2026
LOS ANGELES - April 17, 2026 - Colorfront today announced Colorf...
07/05/2026
April 23, 2026
NAB 2026, Las Vegas - the Academy and Emmy Award-winning develop...
07/05/2026
Thursday 7 May 2026
Sky continues Sphere Abacus partnership with The Death of S...
07/05/2026
Thursday 7 May 2026
Sky Confirms Saturday Night Live UK will return this September for Series Two
Saturday Night Live UK will return for a second series, as S...
07/05/2026
Save 20% on the Sky Glass Gen 2 and Sky Glass Air TVsThursday 7 May 2026
How to watch the World Cup on Sky Glass
Tune into the World Cup on the BBC and ITV vi...
07/05/2026
Production sound mixer Dirk Sciarrotta has mixed Family Feud for 28 seasons. Thats up to 200 syndicated episodes per year, plus primetime celebrity specials - a...
07/05/2026
As audience expectations have evolved, Owen has stopped trying to hide microphones or excuse amplification. Instead, he treats sound as a fully immersive part o...
07/05/2026
Well known Irish faces pushed to the edge in new series of
Uncharted with Ray G...
07/05/2026
RT will premiere A Traveller Family, a compelling new documentary exploring the...
06/05/2026
New pricing tiers for vocal/dialogue restoration tool
NoiseWorks Audio's AI-powered vocal and dialogue processing plug-in is now available in three diff...
06/05/2026
Popular mixing & routing software overhauled
Following a recent public beta test, RME have launched the final release version of the powerful mixing and rou...
06/05/2026
New SOS Video Feature
Focusrites ISA C8X is a milestone product that brings together the companys analogue heritage and their expertise in digital audio. Yo...
06/05/2026
06 May 2026
VEON's Kyivstar Authorized to Resell Starlink for Businesses & ...
06/05/2026
UKTV has secured the exclusive rights to the early back catalogue of iconic Australian drama series Neighbours, following a landmark content deal with Fremantle...
06/05/2026
Wednesday 6 May 2026
Sky commissions feature documentary to mark 10th anniversa...
06/05/2026
Wednesday 6 May 2026
Sky and Formula 1 agree long-term partnership across UK, Ireland and Italy
Sky in the UK & Ireland to remain the home of Formula 1 until ...
06/05/2026
Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign launches nationwide, supported by new...
06/05/2026
Wuppertal May 6, 2026
Riedel Expands Leadership Structure, Appoints Marc Engro...
06/05/2026
SAN JOSE, Calif. - May 6, 2026 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced its latest broadband innovations for ANGA COM 2026, highlighting its vision for a new e...
06/05/2026
Statement from Rupert Murdoch, Chairman Emeritus, Fox Corporation on Ted Turner&...
06/05/2026
Friday 8 May on RT One and RT Player
Meet the NSPCA team caring for and protecting animals in need in this six-part series
Fly on the wall, six-part series...
The esteemed and highly regarded Sally Debonnaire prepares to retire from full-time production management after a forty year career
