THE TEAM
ED STOBART
CREATIVE DIRECTOR / MANAGING DIRECTOR
The former head of Ginger Productions in London, Ed is a multi award winning producer and director who has delivered successful, high quality series and films for all the UK’s major terrestrial and digital broadcasters.
Among his many credits, Ed Stobart created and executive produced ITV's Jack Osbourne Adrenaline Junkie, which sold to 146 territories around the world, executive produced the award winning Cannibals and Crampons, the prototype for BBC Tribe, and developed Discovery's Walking The Amazon.
In documentary features, Ed exec produced Pink Saris, which was BAFTA and Grierson nominated, and winner of the Prix Europa & Sheffield Documentary Festival, and How To Defuse A Bomb, which won the Irish Film Institute Festival. He series produced Channel 4's Grand Designs & Channel 5's House Doctor. Ed executive produces/ Co executive produces all the Alleycats content.
DES HENDERSON
DIRECTOR / EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Des is a multi-award winning producer and director and has worked on the vast bulk of the Alleycats output in both capacities. Award winning/ nominated credits include: BBC1 / BBC4 How to Defuse a Bomb: ( Irish Film Institute winner and RTS nominated), My Wig and Me ( RTS nominated) BBC1 World’s Oldest Family ( RTS nominated), BBC1 NI/ RTE Keepin’ ‘Er Country (Celtic Media Festival Winner, RTS nominated) BBC1 NI/ RTE Life Patrol: On The Banks of The Foyle ( Radharc Award runner up)
As well as being at the cutting edge of high end documentary, Des has a huge strength in popular factual and formats – he developed, series produced and directed RTE series The Borrowers, bringing the fixed rig into loan offices, and is poised to repeat this success with RTE’s dating format Pulling With My Parents.
EMMA PARKINS
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER / HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT
Emma is a programme maker and Executive Producer specialising in global factual content for TV and digital. She joined an expanding Alleycats in 2017.
In her 15 year career, Emma has originated/co-originated and delivered a wide-ranging slate including BBC WW’s pop science You Tube channel Head Squeeze (now BBC Earth Online) and studio science-ent series Factomania, Smithsonian’s new docu-drama brand Make it Out Alive, Discovery/BBC Two’s inventive animation series James May’s Things You Need to Know, BBC Four’s returning flagship Digging for Britain, C5’s Hero in My Family and NatGeo’s Making History. She began her career in the BBC documentary unit, making observational series like BBC ONE's Children’s Hospital.
At Alleycats Emma’s focus is on developing returning brands and specials that combine great storytelling and visuals with access and emotion, to create new and compelling ways of experiencing the world.
JOHN FARREN
CONSULTANT
John acts as Alleycats's consultant, and given his history in Derry, he is a perfect fit. He set up 360production in Derry, NI using his network connections to fund and incubate a true Network production company in a city where none had ever existed.
He produced around a hundred hours of network and international content, with a client list including: BBC1, 2, 4, ITV, C5, Nat Geo, Discovery, PBS, Arte, SBS, ABC, History Channels USA, UK, CANADA. As well as top end blue chip shows, he made purely digital material for clients like Youtube (funded science portal Headsqueeze has 400,000 subscribers), Yahoo, the OU, and commercial clients like Bosch and Novartis.
John is also a former Commissioner for BBC Timewatch, and Executive Producer with ITV Granada and Ginger Productions.