Patricia Llewellyn (7 February 1962 – 22 October 2017) was a British

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

producer and managing director of the television production company,

Optomen Optomen is an Independence, independent television production company part of All3Media, with Optomen Television Ltd. for the United Kingdom and Optomen Productions Inc. (launched in 2002) for the United States. It specializes in unscripted prog ...

, which in 2010 became part of the

All3Media All3Media Limited is a British worldwide independent television, film, and digital production and distribution company based in London. The All3Media group consists of more than 50 production and distribution companies and labels from the Uni ...

group. Llewellyn was born in Carmarthen, West Wales, and became best known for her work on cookery programmes. In 2002, the annual

Glenfiddich Food and Drink Awards The Glenfiddich Food and Drink Awards were intended to recognize achievements in writing, publishing and broadcasting on the subjects of food and drink. The awards had been sponsored since 1972 by William Grant & Sons, a family-owned Scottish dis ...

bestowed upon Llewellyn the Independent Spirit Award for her "progressive and confident approach to food and drink broadcasting". She acquired a reputation as a starmaker, having built hit series around previously unknown chefs, such as ''

Two Fat Ladies ''Two Fat Ladies'' was a British cooking programme starring Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright. It originally ran for four series – twenty-four episodes – from 9 October 1996 to 28 September 1999, being produced by Optomen, Optom ...

'' with

Jennifer Paterson Jennifer Mary Paterson (3 April 1928 – 10 August 1999) was a British celebrity cook, author, actress and television personality who appeared on the television programme '' Two Fat Ladies'' (1996–1999) with Clarissa Dickson Wright. Prior to ...

and

Clarissa Dickson Wright Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmerelda Johnston Dickson Wright (24 June 1947 – 15 March 2014) was an English celebrity cook, television personality, writer, businesswoman, and former barrister. Sh ...

; and ''

The Naked Chef ''The Naked Chef'' is a BBC Two Cooking show, cooking programme starring Jamie Oliver. It debuted in April 1999, and originally ran for three series plus three Christmas specials, and was produced by Optomen Television for the BBC. The show was O ...

'' with

Jamie Oliver Jamie Trevor Oliver Order of the Star of Italy, OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English celebrity chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and o ...

, for which she won her first BAFTA. Her other credits include '' Heston's Feasts'', winner of a Royal Television Society Award; ''

Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares ''Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares'' is a television programme featuring British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay first broadcast on Channel 4 in 2004. In each episode, Ramsay visits a failing restaurant and acts as a troubleshooter to help improve t ...

'', winner of two BAFTAs, an International Emmy and a Grierson Award; and another food-related TV series, '' The F Word'', featuring chef

Gordon Ramsay Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur, television presenter, and writer. His restaurant group, List of restaurants owned or operated by Gordon Ramsay, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has ...

. Llewellyn also acted as co-producer of several American cookery and reality television programmes, such as ''

Kitchen Nightmares ''Kitchen Nightmares'', known in the UK as ''Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA'', is an American reality television series originally broadcast on Fox, in which chef Gordon Ramsay is invited by the owners to spend a week with a failing restaurant ...

'', ''

Masterchef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with MasterChef (British TV series), the British version in July 1990. The show aims to discover the culinary talent of chefs of varying sk ...

'', ''

Hotel Hell ''Hotel Hell'' is an American reality television series created, hosted and narrated by Gordon Ramsay, which ran on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network for three seasons from 2012 to 2016. It aired on Monday nights at 8 pm ET/PT. It was Ra ...

'', and '' Masterchef Jr''. Llewellyn had success finding on-screen talent outside the culinary world: the BBC2 series ''

Mary Queen of Shops ''Mary Queen of Shops'' is a British television series presented by Mary Portas broadcast on BBC Two. The series began with a four-week run starting on 7 June 2007, and returned for a second series of six episodes beginning on 9 June 2008. A third ...

'' launched the career of

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people ...

Mary Portas Mary Margaret Portas (''née'' Newton; born 28 May 1960) is an English retail consultant and broadcaster, known for her retail- and business-related television shows, founding her creative agency Portas and her appointment by David Cameron, the ...

; and ''Two Men in a Trench'', also for BBC2, introduced archaeologist and historian

Neil Oliver Neil Oliver (born 21 February 1967) is a Scottish television presenter, author, and conspiracy theorist. He has presented several documentary series on archaeology and history, including '' A History of Scotland'', ''Vikings'' and ''Coast''. H ...

to television audiences. Llewellyn was also executive producer for ''

The F***ing Fulfords ''The F***ing Fulfords'' is a 2004 documentary-style reality television programme. It was shown in August 2004 and made the name of Francis Fulford and his family when it was aired as part of the United Kingdom's Channel 4 TV series '' Cutting ...

'', a BAFTA nominated documentary for Channel 4. As the managing director of Optomen, Llewellyn led the company through a period of rapid growth. When Llewellyn joined Optomen, its gross annual revenue was under £10m, but by 2014, according to the Broadcast Annual Survey, it ranked seventh among independent production companies in the UK with annual revenue of over £57m. Optomen now has production offices in London, New York and Los Angeles. Her death from metastatic breast cancer was announced on 24 October 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Llewellyn, Patricia 1962 births 2017 deaths British television producers British women television producers People educated at Westonbirt School People from Carmarthen