Bea Ballard (also known professionally as Beatrice Ballard;) is a British

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

. She is chief executive of 10 Star Entertainment, a production company set up in 2009 with investment from

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

. She is the daughter of novelist

J. G. Ballard James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass me ...

. Ballard co-devised a string of Saturday night entertainment programmes for

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

, including '' How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?'' and '' Any Dream Will Do'' while creative head and executive producer at BBC Entertainment between 2003 and 2007.

Education

Ballard was educated at St David's School, Middlesex and read English and American Literature at The

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

, where her tutors included

Malcolm Bradbury Sir Malcolm Stanley Bradbury, (7 September 1932 – 27 November 2000) was an English author and academic. Life Bradbury was born in Sheffield, the son of a railwayman. His family moved to London in 1935, but returned to Sheffield in 1941 with ...

Lorna Sage Lorna Sage (13 January 1943 – 11 January 2001) was an English academic, literary critic and author, remembered especially for contributing to consideration of women's writing and for a memoir of her early life, '' Bad Blood'' (2000).ODNB entry ...

, and

Angus Wilson Sir Angus Frank Johnstone-Wilson, CBE (11 August 191331 May 1991) was an English novelist and short story writer. He was one of England's first openly gay authors. He was awarded the 1958 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for '' The Middle Age o ...

. Following her graduation, she took a one-year post-graduate Diploma in Journalism at London's City University. She completed this with Distinction, and won a scholarship to the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members o ...

'', where she trained as a reporter and researcher.

Television career

Ballard started her television career at the BBC, on '' John Craven's Newsround'', where she worked as a journalist and assistant producer. She worked at

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 ...

in Entertainment where she produced a wide range of entertainment shows, from the ''An Audience...'' specials (with

Peter Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov ; 16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, filmmaker and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits ...

and

Billy Connolly Sir William Connolly (born 24 November 1942) is a Scottish actor, retired comedian, artist, writer, musician, and presenter. He is sometimes known, especially in his homeland, by the Scots nickname the Big Yin ("the Big One"). Known for his ...

, among others), to ''The Late Clive James'', to ''

Michael Aspel Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television newsreader and host of programmes such as '' Crackerjack'', ''Aspel & Company'', '' Give Us a Clue'', ''This is Your Life'', '' Strange but True?'' and '' Antiques R ...

and Company'', to BAFTA Awards.

David Liddiment David Liddiment (born 20 September 1952) is Creative Director of the independent production company All3Media. He is also an associate of The Old Vic Theatre Company and a member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corp ...

invited Ballard to join BBC Entertainment as Head of Talk and Specials. This led to her devising a number of event specials – from the 2-hour gala celebrating BBC TV's 60th Anniversary in 1996, TV 60 – Aunties All Time Greats, to BAFTA Awards, to ''

Ruby Wax Ruby Wax (; born 19 April 1953) is an American-British actress, comedian, writer, television personality, and mental health campaigner. A classically-trained actress, Wax was with the Royal Shakespeare Company for five years and co-starred on ...

Meets Madonna'', to documentaries series such as the Emmy winning ''

Carrie Fisher Carrie Frances Fisher (October 21, 1956 – December 27, 2016) was an American actress and writer. She played Princess Leia in the ''Star Wars'' films (1977–1983). She reprised the role in'' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' (2015), ''The Last ...

on Hollywood'' (aco-production with A&E). She devised the

Clive James Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...

, the show transferred to

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins ...

.. Ballard also produced the majority of Clive James' other output for the BBC. She devised and produced the 8 part documentary series ''Fame in the Twentieth Century'' a co-production with

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...

, shown both in the UK and the US. Ballard also produced the documentary series for BBC ONE in which Clive James profiled various cities around the world in '' Clive James's Postcard from...'' (1990–94) from Paris; New York; Miami. Ballard created and executive produced many specials for BBC One, from ''One Night With Robbie Williams'' at the Royal Albert Hall (winner of Silver Rose of Montreux for Best International Music Programme), to ''Elton John at the Royal Opera House'', to the BAFTA Tributes series of celebrity specials -

Victoria Wood Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, lyricist, singer, composer, pianist, screenwriter, producer and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over s ...

, Ronnie Barker,

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...

. She also oversaw all of the BBC's

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pri ...

programming. While Creative Head of BBC Entertainment Events, Bea Ballard put forward to the then Controller of BBC One,

Peter Fincham Peter Arthur Fincham (born 26 July 1956) is a British television producer and executive. From 2008 until 2016, he was the Director of Television for the ITV network. He was also formerly the Controller of BBC One, the primary television channe ...

, the idea of '' How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?''. She successfully got the series commissioned, and off the ground. The programme was the first time that a

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

musical had been cast via a television show, with the public voting on contestants drawn from open auditions held all over Britain. The programme has spawned other continuations of the format, such as '' Grease'' for ITV and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

in America. The format is also being adapted internationally for a number of other musicals. Following the ''How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?'', the BBC developed '' Any Dream Will Do'', the search to cast the lead in

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musica ...

's West End revival of ''

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' (often colloquially known as ''Joseph'') is a sung-through musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the character of Joseph from the Bible's Book of Genesis. Th ...

''. Ballard also worked with

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starrin ...

on Weekend for

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

. The weekend included the documentary ''50 Not Out'', and the programme ''Guilty''. She helped to persuade

Ronnie Barker Ronald William George Barker (25 September 1929 – 3 October 2005) was an English actor, comedian and writer. He was known for roles in British comedy television series such as '' Porridge'', ''The Two Ronnies'', and ''Open All Hours''. ...

to come out of retirement and reunite with

Ronnie Corbett Ronald Balfour Corbett (4 December 1930 – 31 March 2016) was a Scottish actor, broadcaster, comedian and writer. He had a long association with Ronnie Barker in the BBC television comedy sketch show '' The Two Ronnies''. He achieved promin ...

to make '' The Two Ronnies Sketchbook'' series. Ballard re-launched the '' Parkinson'' chat show hosted by

Michael Parkinson Sir Michael Parkinson (born 28 March 1935) is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his television talk show '' Parkinson'' from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007, as well as other talk shows and programmes both in the U ...

for BBC One. The show featured top international talent – from David and

Victoria Beckham Victoria Caroline Beckham (; born 17 April 1974) is an English fashion designer, singer, and television personality. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Posh Spice. W ...

s' first solo and joint interviews, to

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. On ...

's first interview following the death of wife Linda, to

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV Generation, MTV generation and is one of the List ...

and

Hugh Grant Hugh John Mungo Grant (born 9 September 1960) is an English actor. He established himself early in his career as both a charming, and vulnerable romantic lead and has since transitioned into a dramatic character actor. Among his numerous ...

's first interviews since their lives were affected by scandal.

Chairman of BAFTA Television Committee

Ballard was elected Chairman of the BAFTA Television Committee, and served from 2001 to 2003. Prior to this position, she was elected to BAFTA Council & served for six years. She was also Chairman of the BAFTA Events Committee for two years, producing a number of keynote speeches with channel controllers and she launched The Independent View – a series of interviews and profiles of the television industry's leading independents. During her tenure at BAFTA, she expanded its television programming through the development of the BAFTA Tributes series. She also oversaw annually the television juries and chaired many herself, ranging from drama to comedy.

Ballard programmes for BBC One

* The Sound of Musicals * Any Dream Will Do (Joseph) * How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria (Best Entertainment Series – International Emmys 2007; Broadcast Awards 2007; Royal Television Society Awards 2007) * Celebrate the Sound of Music (hosted by Graham Norton) * Parkinson (Best Ent Series 4 years running at National TV Awards; Best Ent Series BAFTA TV Awards; Best Ent Series RTS Awards; Best Ent Series TV Quick Awards) * The Two Ronnies Sketchbook (highest rating BBC comedy series of 2005) * The BAFTA TV Awards * BAFTA Tributes to Victoria Wood, Judi Dench, Billy Connolly, Bruce Forsyth, Ronnie Barker, Julie Walters, James Bond * Eurovision * Making Your Mind Up (re-branded Song For Europe) * Eastenders Christmas Party * One Night With Robbie Williams - Royal Albert Hall (Silver Rose for Best International Music Prog at Golden Rose of Montreux) * One Night With Rod Stewart (Royal Albert Hall) * Elton John – an Ivor Novello Tribute * Elton John at the Royal Opera House * All Time Greatest Love Songs * The Royal Variety Show * Victoria Wood's Sketch Show Story * The Sitcom Story with Dawn French * Ruby Wax Meets Madonna * Carrie Fisher on Hollywood (Emmy award) * Auntie's All Time Greats * Saturday Night Clive (BAFTA and RTS nominated) * Clive James Fame in the Twentieth Century ( Emmy Award) * Clive James's Postcard from... Paris; New York; Miami; Paris BBC TWO: Saturday Night Clive BBC FOUR Stephen Fry Night

References

External links

*
Bea Ballard
website {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballard, Bea 1959 births Living people Alumni of the University of East Anglia Alumni of City, University of London BBC people English television producers British women television producers