Freehand Productions (or simply Freehand) is an Australian

television production A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

company, founded in 2004 by producers John Gregory, Peter Abbott and Chris O’Mara. Since its inception, Freehand has produced or co-produced various genres of content, including light and factual entertainment, observational documentary, specials and children's television, for Australian commercial broadcasters, public broadcasters and

subscription television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

channels. Notable productions include ''

Top Gear Australia ''Top Gear Australia'' is an Australian driving, motoring reality television series, based on the British BBC series ''Top Gear (current format), Top Gear''. The programme first premiered on SBS One on 29 September 2008. A second season was ord ...

'', '' Freshwater Blue'', '' Missing Persons Unit'', ''

Planet Cake ''Planet Cake'' is a reality television series that follows the daily operations of one of Australia's most renowned cake businesses under the tight rein of Paris Cutler, known to her eclectic team of designers and decorators as ''The Cake Quee ...

'' and ''

Joker Poker ''Joker Poker'' was a late night Australian poker program on Network Ten which aired in 2005 and 2006. The 2005 edition was hosted by Adam Spencer, with the second and final edition hosted by Mike Goldman. Both were co-hosted by New Zealand p ...

''.

History

In 2007,

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetised BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

acquired a 25% stake in Freehand Productions for a reported A$2.5 million, which was the first time BBC Worldwide purchased a stake in an existing company rather than set up their own. BBC Worldwide divested its stake to co-founder Peter Abbott in 2012. Co-founder Chris O'Mara departed the company in 2009. In 2010, Freehand produced the first local commission for

MTV Australia MTV was a 24-hour general entertainment channel specialising in music and youth culture programming which serves Australia and New Zealand. Paramount Networks UK & Australia headquartered in London with a local office at Network 10's headquarte ...

, in reality show '' Freshwater Blue''.

Productions

Production credits include ''

'' (Lifestyle Food), ''Matt Wright: Outback Wrangler'' (National Geographic Channel), '' Freshwater Blue'' (MTV), ''

'' (moving from SBS to Nine Network in 2010), ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

'' (Seven Network), ''Bush Slam'' (ABC), '' Costa's Garden Odyssey'' (SBS), '' Missing Persons Unit'' (Nine Network), ''An Audience with Michael Parkinson'' (UKTV) and ''One Small Step: The Australian Story'' (BBC Knowledge and BBC HD). In 2008, Freehand joined forces with Blink Films to produce the children's program '' Escape from Scorpion Island'' (ABC) and together were successful in securing the inaugural commission for CBeebies Australia with the magical show for pre-schoolers, '' Penelope K, by the way''.

Production credits

*'' Meet the Hockers'' (

9Go! 9Go! is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Nine Network on 9 August 2009, replacing Nine Guide. It is a youthful channel that offers a mix of comedy, reality, general entertainment, movies, anima ...

) *''

A League of Their Own ''A League of Their Own'' is a 1992 American sports comedy drama film directed by Penny Marshall that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). It stars Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Ma ...

'' (Ten) *''Some Say Love'' - Pilot (UKTV) *''

'' (Lifestyle Food) *''Matt Wright: Outback Wrangler'' (National Geographic Channel) *'' Freshwater Blue'' (MTV) *''Goa Hippy Tribe'' (SBS) *'' Penelope K, by the way'' (CBeebies) *''Costa's Arnhem Land Odyssey'' (SBS) *'' Costa's Garden Odyssey'' Series 1 and 2 (SBS) *''Bush Slam'' (ABC) *'' One Small Step'' (BBC Knowledge) *''An Audience with Michael Parkinson'' (UKTV) *'' The Nest'' Series 1 and 2 (SBS). *'' Escape from Scorpion Island'' Series 2 - 5 (with RDF for ABC and BBC) *''

'' Series 1 and 2 (BBC Worldwide and SBS) Series 3 and 4 (BBC Worldwide and Nine Network) *''

'' (Seven Network) *'' Missing Persons Unit'' Series 1 - 5 (Nine Network) *''Great Australian Homes'' (How To Channel) *''Owner Builder'' (How To Channel) *'' Outback Wildlife Rescue'' (Seven Network and BBC Worldwide) *''The Great BBQ Challenge'' (XYZ Lifestyle Food) *The 2005 and 2006

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, also known as the KCAs or Kids' Choice, is an American annual awards ceremony show produced by Nickelodeon. Usually held on a Saturday night in March or early April, the show honors the year's biggest in tel ...

*''

Honey, We're Killing the Kids ''Honey, We're Killing the Kids'' is a BBC Three television series in which parents are shown the consequences of poor parenting. The program shows Computer-generated imagery, computer-generated images and technology of what their children may l ...

'' (Ten Network and BBC Worldwide) *''Skating On Thin Ice'' (Nine Network) *'' My Restaurant Rules'' (Seven Network) *''

Queer Eye For The Straight Guy ''Queer Eye'' is an American reality television series that premiered on the Bravo (American TV network), Bravo network in July 2003, initially broadcast as ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy''. The series was created by executive producers David ...

'' (Ten Network)

References

External links

* {{officialwebsite, http://www.freehandtv.com.au Television production companies of Australia Mass media companies established in 2004 Film production companies of Australia Companies based in Sydney