Paramount UK Unscripted Boss Daniel Pearl Moving To Lion TV
11.09.2023 - 11:25
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: UK unscripted vet Daniel Pearl is exiting Paramount UK for Lion TV.
The streamer’s VP of unscripted originals in the UK, whose past credits include Leaving Neverland and 72 Films-produced Premier League series Rise of the Billionaires, will become Creative Director at the All3Media-owned production outfit, replacing Tom Watt-Smith but with a wider remit.
Pearl has spent the past six years at Paramount UK, where he has overseen a wealth of factual shows first for Paramount UK network Channel 5 and latterly Paramount+ – leading the charge on the streamer’s UK unscripted push. Credits for Paramount+ include Rise of the Billionaires, serial killer series The Box and reality show Hot Yachts. For Channel 5, he oversaw big factual beasts such as Our Yorkshire Farm.
Pearl is a UK unscripted vet, having spent the six years before Paramount/Channel 5 in various current affairs roles with Channel 4, and the 15 years before that at the BBC.
Lion will be his first role on the other side of the broadcaster-producer fence and shows coming up include a BBC documentary on Pompeii. Lion also makes long-runners like CBBC’s Horrible Histories and has recently produced Netflix shows including Sexy Beast and Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb. He replaces Watt-Smith, who moved to Welcome to Earth with Will Smith indie Nutopia earlier this year, but will have a wider remit due to his past experience.
Lion, which also has a U.S. hub from where it produces Bravo’s Cash Cab, has undergone plenty of structural change recently. Earlier this year, it pivoted focus to specialist, premium factual and kids TV while forging a popular factual division with All3Media stablemates Lion Television and Wise Owl Films. Lime bosses Kate Little and
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