Kate Harwood is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of 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 networks, but upon acce ...

. She became managing director of the revived

Euston Films Euston Films is a British film and television production company. It was originally a subsidiary of Thames Television, and operated from 1971 to 1994, producing various series for Thames, which were screened nationally on the ITV network. Euston ...

in summer 2014.

Early life

Kate graduated from the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

with a degree in

Drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

and

Theatre Arts Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communic ...

in 1981 before becoming an Arts Council Trainee director with Century Theatre, Keswick, then Literary Manager of the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

in London.

Television career

Harwood moved from the Royal Court to spend over 15 years working at the BBC, including as Script Editor and Script Executive, before becoming an executive producer in the BBC Drama Serials department. As a producer, she has worked on dramas including '' The Beggar Bride'', ''Close Relations'', ''The Echo'', ''

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield''Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work; see is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to matur ...

'', '' Man and Boy'' and

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

winner '' Charles II: The Power and the Passion'' (released in the US under the title ''The Last King: the Power and the Passion of Charles II'', in a heavily edited version on the A&E cable network). In her role as executive producer in BBC drama serials, she was responsible for programs including ''Crime and Punishment'', '' Daniel Deronda'', '' The Lost World'', and ''Final Demand''. Harwood was appointed the executive producer of ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'' in February 2005, a position she retained until October 2006, when she was succeeded by Diederick Santer. As well as being responsible for the introduction of several new families, such as the Brannings and the Foxes, she introduced such characters as Sean Slater and May Wright, as well as the departures of many popular characters such as Sharon Watts and

Dennis Rickman Dennis Rickman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Nigel Harman. He made his first appearance on 14 April 2003 at the funeral of his late mother, Paula, before going on to become one of the show's centra ...

, Chrissie Watts, Kat Moon and Alfie Moon, Sam Mitchell, Nana Moon, Jake Moon, Little Mo Mitchell, Johnny Allen and Pauline Fowler and oversaw numerous high-profile storylines, such as Pauline Fowler's murder; Billy and Honey's wedding and daughter being born with Down syndrome; and the domestic abuse storyline between

Denise Fox Denise Fox (also Wicks and Johnson) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Diane Parish. She made her first appearance on 11 May 2006 and temporarily left ''EastEnders'' in early 2008 to give birth to her se ...

and Owen Turner as well as the discovery of

Den Watts Den Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by actor Leslie Grantham. He became well known for his tabloid nickname, "Dirty Den". Den was the original landlord of The Queen Victoria public house from Albert ...

' body under the Queen Vic. She was also responsible for such ratings-winners as

's stabbing and the critically acclaimed return of the Mitchell brothers, which drew respective audiences of 12 and 13 million viewers. Other storylines, however, such as a brief lesbian affair between Sonia and Naomi, " Get Johnny Week", and the handling of Pauline Fowler's departure were not as well received, and prompted further media criticism; in July 2006, ''EastEnders'' fell to just 3.9 million viewers (although this was very-much a circumstantial, one-off figure and not at-all representative of how episodes that did not clash with

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British television soap opera that is broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a List of fictional towns and villages, fict ...

rated), its then-lowest-ever viewing figure. Her final episode aired on 4 January 2007. In December 2012, Harwood took the position of BBC Head of Drama, replacing John Yorke. In March 2014, it was announced that Harwood was to leave the BBC to take up a position as managing director of

, previously a successful producer of British television drama from the 1970s to the early 1990s, then being revived as a company by owners

Fremantle Media Fremantle Limited (), formerly FremantleMedia, is a British Multinational corporation, multinational television production company, production and distribution (marketing), distribution company based in London. The company was founded as Pear ...

Family

Her grandfather, Admiral Sir Henry Harwood, KBE, OBE (as Commodore) was commander of Force G during the pursuit that resulted in the scuttling of the German 'pocket battleship' '' Admiral Graf Spee'' after the Battle of the River Plate, off Uruguay, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

(these events were later the basis of the 1956 film '' The Battle of the River Plate''). His sons Henry and Stephen both served as officers in the Royal Navy. Her brother, Anthony Harwood, as of 2006 was Head of News at the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'', a British newspaper.Trivia sectio
Internet Movie Database
Accessed 19 September 2006

References

External links

BBC appoints new Executive Producer for EastEndersBBC reshuffles top drama execs
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harwood, Kate British women television producers British soap opera producers Living people Alumni of the University of Birmingham Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)