Plimsoll signs fact ent chief

Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker indie Plimsoll Productions has hired Andrea Jackson to lead its factual entertainment slate.

Jackson, who founded distributor Magnify Media in 2015 and sold it to Plimsoll five years later, joins the company as creative director of factual entertainment.

Her appointment is the latest in a string of hires since ITV Studios bought Plimsoll in June last year, and Magnify is now being incorporated into ITVS’ distribution business.

Recent appointments include Mark Brownlow, the Bafta- and Emmy-winning producer/director behind BBC Studios’ natural history blockbusters Planet Earth, Frozen Planet II and Blue Planet II, and former Nat Geo exec Alan Ayes, who joined as Plimsoll USA.

Bristol-based Plimsoll is in production on 20 series, including Disney+/Nat Geo series Great Migrations. Jackson will executive produce factual shows and formats including Channel 4’s Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker and BBC2’s My Unique B&B.