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
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
25/11/2025
Tracy Bonareri Onchoke, an investigative journalist from Kenya is the winner of the Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist Award 2025.
The 26-year-old-sele...
25/11/2025
The best playlists, podcasts, and audiobooks bring a little extra magic to your daily routine. With new features and offerings, Spotify Premium delivers even mo...
25/11/2025
Comprehensive new research confirms what we already knew: Australian music fans love the quality, quantity, and access they have to new and local music on strea...
25/11/2025
Applicable Products
Objectives The purpose of this application note is to give a brief background on 5G (NR) wireless communication an explain the reason a SN...
25/11/2025
25 Nov 2025
VEON's QazCode and MeetKai Sign Agreement to Power National LLM...
25/11/2025
UKTV has acquired a high-profile slate of US dramas from Paramount Global Conten...
25/11/2025
A symphony of genius, rivalry and vengeance, boldly reimagined from Peter Shaffe...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Cinematography World
Read the article
FilmLight has finalised the prestigious 2025 FilmLight Colour Awards jury and welcomed award-winning...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Prensario
Read the article
La serie fue dirigida por Juli n de Tavira, Rodrigo Santos, y David Leche Ruiz, con direcci n de fotograf a a...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter
Read the article
The awards, celebr...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Televisual
Read the article
Already live in Los Angeles and rolling out in New York and London, Nara gives producers, colourists, conform ...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Digital Media World
Read the article
ARTONE post-house in Tokyo is the first facility in Japan to integrate Baselight M, choosing its prec...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter
Read the article
Once hidden in post-production suites, the artists who make movies and TV shows look the way they ...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Deadline
Read the article
The Brutalist' & Bad Bunny's Nuevayol' Music Video Among 2025 FilmLight Colour Award Winners - Cam...
24/11/2025
Robyn made her long-awaited return to the stage this week, as Spotify and Acne Studios brought friends and top fans together for an unforgettable evening at the...
24/11/2025
After more than two years of redevelopment, FC Barcelona returned to its spiritual home on November 22, hosting Athletic Club in the first La Liga match at the ...
24/11/2025
24 Nov 2025
Kyivstar Launches Starlink Direct to Cell Satellite Connectivity in Ukraine Today's Launch Makes Ukraine the First Country in Europe Where Star...
24/11/2025
Ahead of the new ninth series of Dancing with the Stars, kicking off in January 2026, RT and Shinawil have announced the arrival of three new faces to the hit ...
21/11/2025
Fans have been counting down the days until the final theatrical chapter of Wicked is revealed. To celebrate the highly anticipated release of Wicked: For Good ...
21/11/2025
Last week, Spotify turned up the volume in Seoul with the return of Spotify Hous...
21/11/2025
Wiesbaden, November 21, 2025. The SGL Carbon site in Meitingen has reason to celebrate as one of its trainees received a special award. Elias Stemmer was honore...
21/11/2025
Sky Media's £2m award-winning sustainability initiative crowns its first charity as this year's standout changemakerFriday 21 November 2025
GoodGym nam...
21/11/2025
As COP30 draws to a close, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), ...
20/11/2025
Your playlists are personal. They're the soundtracks to your road trips, your quiet mornings, and your biggest celebrations; collections of memories and dis...
20/11/2025
Spotify, uzun s redir zerine al t T rk m zik k lt r n n ikon haline gelmi ...
20/11/2025
For the first time, Spotify has teamed up with The Hollywood Reporter to cohost ...
20/11/2025
This year's ARIA Awards marked a turning point for Australian music, and Spotify was right at the heart of it. For the first time in the awards' nearly ...
20/11/2025
15 March 2012
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Cinegy and Vericom are pleased to announce the recent deployment of Cinegy Archive for production and as...
20/11/2025
6 September 2012
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
FIC Turkey supplies media content to Pay TV under Fox TV Channel brands in Turkey.
At the start of s...
20/11/2025
25 June 2014
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Last month VIVA finalized its Cinegy installation in order to produce and broadcast the World Cup Brazil ...
20/11/2025
1 October 2014
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
With 5 locations spread out around Baden-W rttemberg, Schw bisch Media required a scalable end to end s...
20/11/2025
27 April 2015
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Cinegy, which develops and produces media asset management products that are used in flagship production...
20/11/2025
12 August 2015
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 26 October 2015 - Cinegy, which develops and produces software technology for digital ...
20/11/2025
5 November 2015
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany 3 November 2015 - Cinegy, which develops and produces software technology for digital ...
20/11/2025
12 February 2016
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany 9 February 2016 - Cinegy, which develops and produces software technology for digital...
20/11/2025
22 June 2016
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany 21 June 2016 - Cinegy today announced that ABS BROADCAST, one of the largest independentl...
20/11/2025
10 January 2017
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Find us on page 12 of the Program Guide 2016
Tags
NewBay Media Awards , Program Guide 2016 , broadc...
20/11/2025
15 March 2017
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany 15 March 2017 - Cinegy today announced that Thailand's Next Step direct-to-home Free...
20/11/2025
12 December 2017
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany 13 December 2017 - Cinegy today announced that it is making its Cinegy Air Cloud Pack...
The esteemed and highly regarded Sally Debonnaire prepares to retire from full-time production management after a forty year career
