Jim joined RDF in 2009 from ITV Productions where he held the position of Director, ITV Studios, Factual & Entertainment since 2003. At ITV his two genre section of the business had more than 500 staff and was responsible for a stellar slate of programming including I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!, Dancing on Ice, Hell’s Kitchen, Come Dine With Me, Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, Tonight with Trevor McDonald, Airline and the RTS Educational TV Award winner Words of War. Prior to this role he was Group Controller, Granada Factual (from 2001) and Controller of Factual Programmes, LWT (from 1997) whose programmes included Ramsay’s Boiling Point, the first television vehicle for celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. He has worked in television production for over 25 years and personally created and devised a wide range of programmes including Britain’s Best Dish and Celebrity Fit Club.
For more than 12 years Jim oversaw the growth of RDF and the creation of a roster of new, returnable hits, including Secret Life of Four Year Olds, Eat Well For Less, Crystal Maze, Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents and 100 Year Old Drivers. RDF’s daytime slate also expanded rapidly with quiz hit, Tipping Point and Dickinson’s Real Deal leading the charge.
In 2015 RDF set up its own entertainment label, Fizz, which secured a raft of commissions for multiple broadcasters, including Shipwrecked, Lightning, Grossbusters and Craig and Bruno-Britain’s Great Road Trips. Jim stood down as RDF MD at the end of 2021 to begin a portfolio career, which includes consultancy for leading production companies and lecturing at the National Film and Television School.
