Crew and production company

6 March 2013

Crew

Writer - Levi David Addai

Levi wrote his first play 93.2FM as part of the Royal Court Theatre’s Young Writers Programme.   It was performed at the Royal Court’s Downstairs (main) Theatre in 2005 and then revived in 2006 before touring to Cardiff, Birmingham, Liverpool and Brighton.

Levi’s second play Oxford Street sold out its initial run at the Royal Court in May 2008 it was nominated for a Writers Guild ‘Best Play’ Award and an ‘Outstanding achievement’ Olivier Award.

Following an attachment and a workshop, Paines Plough commissioned a new play House of Agnes from Levi which opened in March 2008 at the Oval House and was shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon award.  His play for Polka Children’s Theatre I Have a Dream ran in September 2011 for Black History Month.  Levi has also been on attachment at the National Theatre Studio.   A new play Blacklands won the Alfred Fagon award 2011. 

In 2011 Levi wrote a short film Micah for Touchpaper/C4’s Coming Up initiative, which was broadcast in August and screened at the Edinburgh film festival.  The short led to his winning Best Breakthrough Talent at the CDN Awards 2011 and Touchpaper/C4 are now commissioning a series based on the film. 

At the BBC Levi has taken part in a week-long residence with Continuing Drama and in the EastEnders shadow scheme.  He was commissioned by BBC Current Affairs to write a drama My Murder based on a gang-related honey trap murder which premiered on BBC Three in 2012. 

Levi was nominated for a Best Television Script by a newcomer at the 2012 Prix Europa.

My Murder won Best Single Drama at the Broadcast Awards 2013 and Best Drama at the Screen Nation Awards 2013. It is also nominated for Best Single Drama at the RTS Awards later this year.

 

Director - Anthony Philipson

Anthony Philipson has been working in television since 1994 and as a director for over 10 years. Starting out in youth and music programming, Anthony has worked across almost every genre of television from formatted and factual entertainment to pure observational documentaries. In 2007 he directed episode 1 of the second series of Ross Kemp on Gangs which went on to win a BAFTA. Since then he has directed several critically acclaimed projects such as the BAFTA and Grierson nominated Coppers for Channel 4 and the RTS award winning first series of 24 Hours in A&E also for Channel 4.  Youngers is Anthony's first ever drama project.

 

Radford Neville – Producer

Radford is a freelance producer working on such shows as Loving Miss Hatto, The Borrowers and Wuthering Heights. He has also produced Outcasts, Married Single Other and EastEnders. He was also First Assistant Director on Britz, Jane Eyre, Cracker, Spooks and Forty.

 

Luke Alkin - Executive Producer

Luke Alkin joined Big Talk from Channel 4 where he was Acting Head of Drama. During his time there, Peter Flannery’s The Devil’s Whore and Tony Grisoni’s masterful adaptation of Red Riding went into production. Prior to this, he worked at BBC Films as a development executive where his credits included multi-award-winning The Gathering Storm starring Albert Finney, Bulletboy and Dominic Savage’s Out of Control, which won the RTS award.  Luke optioned Jon Ronson’s book The Men Who Stare At Goats which was adapted by Peter Straughn and starred George Clooney and Ewan MacGregor. Luke produced Dirty War for HBO Films and the BBC, Learners starring David Tennant and Jessica Hynes for BBC 1 and Frank Cottrell Boyce’s Grow Your Own for BBC Films, the UK Film Council and Pathé.

At Big Talk, Luke has series produced two series of Threesome for Comedy Central starring Amy Huberman, Stephen Wight and Emun Elliot. He produced Mike Bartlett’s acclaimed drama The Town starring Andrew Scott and Martin Clunes for ITV.  He is Executive Producer on Our Men [working title] a drama comedy for BBC Two written by James Wood and Rupert Walters, starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb set in the British Embassy in Tazbekistan.

 

Kenton Allen – Executive Producer

Kenton Allen became Chief Executive of Big Talk Productions in September 2008. He is a multi award-winning programme-maker whose credits include Oscar-winning film Six Shooter. Kenton began his television career with Channel X Productions, producing over 200 live editions of Tonight with Jonathan Ross for C4. As Head of Entertainment Development at Granada TV he produced The Royle Family, before a stint as Creative Head of BBC Comedy and BBC Comedy North from 2003 until 2008. In this role he produced and exec-produced BAFTA-winning sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Look , BAFTA-nominated Funland , The Omid Djalili Show, After You’ve Gone , Freezing, The Visit, Massive, and four series of Ideal.

At Big Talk Kenton has produced the BAFTA-winning Rev., BBC Three’s most successful sitcom launch ever Him & Her, Threesome for Comedy Central and Robert Popper’s Friday Night Dinner on C4. The Job Lot and Chickens have been commissioned by ITV1 and C4 respectively, while recent successes include ITV1 drama The Town – written by Mike Bartlett, and starring Andrew Scott and Martin Clunes – and A Young Doctor’s Notebook for Sky Arts, starring Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe. Coming up in 2013 are Youngers, an E4 series showcasing the South London grime scene and a host of fresh talent, and Our Men for BBC2. The latter stars comedy duo David Mitchell and Robert Webb and is the first collaborative commission for Big Talk and joint venture That Mitchell and Webb Company. Caitlin Moran’s The Big Object is also set to pilot on C4 this year. In addition to Kenton’s work at Big Talk, he was appointed Advisory Chair of the 2012 Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival.