Charles Andrew Parsons is a British

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television net ...

known as the creator of the '' Survivor'' franchise. He also created ''

The Big Breakfast ''The Big Breakfast'' is a British breakfast light entertainment television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4. Originally presented by Chris Evans and Gaby Roslin, the show was latterly presented by Mo Gilligan and AJ Odudu. The pro ...

'' and '' The Word''.

Education

Parsons was educated at

Tonbridge School (God Giveth the Increase) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = , president = , head_label ...

, a boarding

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

in South East England, and credits the tough boarding school regime he endured there in the early 1970s, which at the time was commonplace, as providing an inspiration for his creation of the series ''Survivor''. He then went to Pembroke College at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where he studied English literature and afterwards trained as a journalist.

Life and career

The early days of Parsons's career saw him working at London Weekend Television on programmes including Network 7, which won a BAFTA award for originality. Parsons co-founded production company Planet 24 with

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter, and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as lead singer of the Rock music in Ireland, Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved ...

and his partner

Waheed Alli Waheed Alli, Baron Alli (born 16 November 1964) is a British media entrepreneur and politician. He is the co-creator of the television series '' Survivor'' and has held executive positions at several television production companies including the ...

. Planet 24 created reality programs including ''

,'' '' The Word,'' and ''Survivor'', which first aired in Sweden during the 1997 season. Planet 24 was sold to Carlton in 1999, but the owners kept the rights to Survivor. Charlie Parsons is currently the Executive Producer of US version of Survivor in its 43rd season on CBS. Parsons has also developed and produced shows for the stage. Parsons is developing Runaway Entertainment with Olivier-award-winning producer Tristan Baker. Girl from the North Country returns from its Broadway acclaim to The Gielgud Theatre in London and is one of the many shows developed and produced by Runaway Entertainment. Parsons founded The Great BBC Campaign, set up to provide a bold ambitious new mandate for the BBC, designed to build on the success of the impartial and independent broadcasting organisation.

References

External links

* Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford British television producers Living people 1958 births People educated at Tonbridge School LGBT businesspeople from the United Kingdom 21st-century LGBT people {{UK-tv-bio-stub