Anna Blue and Will Spokes set up Hitchhiker Television with Objective Media Group
20 September 2017
Anna Blue and Will Spokes are launching a brand new talent focused production label Hitchhiker Television, it has been announced.
Setting up in County Hall in September under All3media’s Objective Media Group, Hitchhiker Television will draw on Blue and Spokes’ years of experience of producing some of the UK’s biggest hits across entertainment, comedy entertainment and popular factual television.
The label will offer an open-door for talent collaboration with the biggest and best names on television. Alongside developing ideas with on-screen talent, providing them with a collaborative partner from development through to production, the label will build on the pair’s reputation for creating inventive, witty, warm and entertaining formats with a focus on producing returning formats with international potential, for the main UK broadcasters as well as the US market.
They said, “This is a wonderful opportunity for us to continue doing what we love - creating and producing new formats across the entertainment genres. It’s especially great to be collaborating on some of those formats with Britain’s brightest onscreen talents. The brilliantly supportive team at OMG are the perfect partners to help us build this new production venture.”
Objective Media Group CEO Layla Smith added: “We couldn't be more delighted to welcome Anna and Will - they have been developing and making unique and joyful television formats for years and the prospect of them joining forces with the huge raft of talented performers and writers today to continue that pursuit is truly exciting.”
Most recently Blue and Spokes were Joint Head of Programmes at Princess Productions, with Spokes joining Blue in the role in 2014. In their time there they made the critically acclaimed social experiment Life Stripped Bare for Channel 4, and more recently Taxi of Mum and Dad for the same Channel. Latterly they were commissioned to make satirical comedy show The Mash Report for BBC Two.
As a Series Producer Blue has worked across a multitude of reality and live chat shows from Big Brother to The Games before setting up Gallowgate with Ant and Dec. There she Series Produced three series of Saturday Night Takeaway. In 2010 she joined Princess Productions as Head of Entertainment to oversee two series of Got To Dance and The Face with Naomi Campbell and created The Love Machine for Sky Living.
After developing and producing shows for MTV, Carlton, Tiger Aspect, ITV Studios, Target and Gallowgate, Spokes moved to Shine in 2008 where he co-created and produced The Magicians for BBC1, and co-created Got to Dance for Sky1. In 2012 he Executive Produced The Love Machine at Princess before leaving to set up Tuesday's Child with Karen Smith. As a Creative Director there he was responsible for co-creating and Executive Producing RTS-nominated Superstar Dogs for Channel 4 and You're Back in the Room for ITV.
