Jonathan Murray Thoday (born May 1961) is a British television executive and businessman. He is the joint founder and managing director of

Avalon Entertainment Avalon () is an island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appeared in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' as a place of magic where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was made and later where Arthur was taken to recover ...

Shows

As a producer, he has been responsible for a number of shows, including ''

Harry Hill's TV Burp ''Harry Hill's TV Burp'' (also referred to as ''TV Burp'') is a British television comedy clip series, written and hosted by comedian Harry Hill, and produced by Avalon Television for ITV. The show's format sees Hill take a comedic look tow ...

'', ''

Not Going Out ''Not Going Out'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom created, written by and starring Lee Mack. It has aired on BBC One since 2006 and is the second-longest-running British sitcom, behind ''Last of the Summer Wine'' (1973–2010). Th ...

,'' and ''

Russell Howard's Good News ''Russell Howard's Good News'' is a British comedy and topical news television show which was broadcast on BBC Three between 2009 and 2014, and on BBC Two between 2014 and 2015. Hosted by comedian Russell Howard, it offered his commentary on th ...

''. He also worked with

Frank Skinner Christopher Graham Collins (born 28 January 1957), known professionally as Frank Skinner, is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. At the 2001 British Comedy Awards, he was named Best Comedy Entertainment Personality. His televisio ...

and

David Baddiel David Lionel Baddiel (; born 28 May 1964) is an English comedian, presenter, screenwriter, author and singer. He became known for his early work alongside Rob Newman in '' The Mary Whitehouse Experience'' and later for his comedy partnership w ...

, to produce the single "

Three Lions Three Lions may refer to: England *The Royal Arms of England, a coat of arms symbolising England (originally England, Normandy and the Duchy of Aquitaine, historically all ruled by Richard I) *The Three Lions, the nickname of the England national fo ...

About Gigs

He has also produced some of the largest gigs in British comedy history, including Newman and Baddiel at Wembley, the first ever arena comedy show, both Al Murray and Russell Howard at the O2 Arena, and the multi-award-winning musical ''

Jerry Springer – The Opera ''Jerry Springer: The Opera'' is a British musical written by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee, based on the talk show ''Jerry Springer''. It contains irreverent treatment of Christian themes, extensive profanity, and surreal images, such as a t ...

'', which won all five best musical awards in London's West End. The company has also produced seven Perrier and Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning shows at the Edinburgh Festival, as well as US comedian

Denis Leary Denis Colin Leary (born August 18, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Born in Massachusetts, he first came to prominence as a stand-up comedian, especially through appearances on MTV (including the comedic song " Asshole") and th ...

's iconic show ''No Cure For Cancer''. He is no stranger to controversy and has made the headlines on a number of occasions. He negotiated Frank Skinner's £20 million pound move from the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

to ITV and also handled

Adrian Chiles Adrian Chiles (born 21 March 1967) is a British writer and television and radio presenter. He has co-presented both '' The One Show'' (2007–2010) and '' Daybreak'' (2010–2011) with Christine Lampard. He was also the chief presenter for fo ...

and subsequently

Christine Bleakley Christine Louise Lampard (''née'' Bleakley, born 2 February 1979) is a Northern Irish television presenter. She has presented various television programmes with Adrian Chiles, such as '' The One Show'' (2007–2010) and '' Daybreak'' (2010–20 ...

's move to ITV. Along with BBC Director General Mark Thompson, Thoday was accused of blasphemy for his role as the producer of '' Jerry Springer the Opera''. The charge was unsuccessful.PinkNews
Retrieved 12 November 2010 Thoday read Natural Sciences at

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

, graduating in 1983. He later studied for an MSc in Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering. He is married to Leanne Newman and has two children.

References

British television executives Living people 1961 births {{UK-tv-bio-stub