Melanie Leach and Andrew MacKenzie confirm plans to launch new production company, South Shore

Tim Carter to head up award-winning labels Twofour & MultiStory Media

8th October, 2019 – Melanie Leach, CEO Twofour and Andrew MacKenzie, CCO, today confirm they are in the concluding phase of talks that will see ITV Studios take a minority stake in their new company, South Shore.

South Shore’s output will span documentary, popular factual and entertainment. The exact date of launch for the company will be confirmed with Melanie and Andrew remaining at the helm of Twofour until then. Twofour CFO and COO Anthony Hughes will also join them at South Shore.

Melanie and Andrew’s award-winning partnership at Twofour has led to hits including the Emmy award winning Educating series, The Jump and Sink or Swim on Channel 4; ITV’s This Time Next Year and Ibiza Weekender, Channel 5’s longest running show Hotel Inspector and the BBC’s The Real Marigold Hotel. Under their leadership Twofour has twice been named Broadcast’s Indie of the Year.

Acquired in 2015 by ITV Studios, Twofour has a regional base in Plymouth and a base in Cardiff.

Melanie and Andrew said:

“We’ve enjoyed every moment of growing Twofour into the brilliant brand that it is today. Now feels like the natural point to hand the company onto a new team and we’re leaving it in great hands. We’re very excited to be working with Julian and ITV Studios again as we embark on our next adventure.”

Managing Director of award-winning label MultiStory Media, Tim Carter, will take on a newly created role which will place him at the helm of Twofour and MultiStory. Both labels will retain their separate identities and existing teams.

Carter will work with Twofour’s senior creative team - Dan Adamson (The Hotel Inspector, Beat the Chef); David Clews (BAFTA award-winning Educating series; Real Marigold Hotel; Ibiza Weekender); Rachel Innes-Lumsden (Save Money: Lose Weight, Matt Allright’s Housing Scandal) and Sam Grace at Boomerang (Extreme Cake Makers) - along with Shireen Abbott (production and operations) and Jake Roberts (finance).

Julian Bellamy, Managing Director, ITV Studios, said:

”Mel and Andy have been the driving force behind Twofour’s huge success over the last few years and have been behind an array of brilliant shows from the Educating series to The Real Marigold Hotel. They’re a truly formidable creative partnership and leave the company in rude health with a great senior team in place, and I am looking forward to their next chapter and the immense potential of South Shore.

"I'm delighted that Tim has agreed to lead Twofour and MultiStory into this exciting new era. Tim has taken MultiStory to the next level since he joined in 2018 and his passion and creative vision makes him the ideal choice to build on Mel and Andy’s fantastic legacy.”

Tim Carter added:

“Over the past decade, Twofour has created some of the landmark moments in British television. It’s synonymous with creative derring-do and I can’t wait to launch its next chapter with the talented people there.”

As Managing Director, Carter has led on the rebrand of MultiStory Media from Shiver, as well as overseeing a number of other firsts for the label, including its inaugural scripted project in ITV’s Wild Bill, it’s first SVOD commission in The Big Flower Fight for Netflix and its first BBC One prime time show, the forthcoming fashion format You Are What You Wear.

During his two years, Carter has strengthened his senior management team with the appointment of Ana De Moraes as Group Creative Director; Ceri Aston, as Creative Director MultiStory Media North and Simone Haywood as Head of Factual Entertainment.