Banijay's Workerbee to build a northern production powerhouse

Workerbee is set to build a northern production powerhouse via a strategy of acquisition, investment and creative partnerships in the North of England and Wales. Identifying growing indies and both new and established talent outside London, Workerbee will become the Workerbee Group, an entrepreneurial and creative hub, backing up and coming businesses, forging new partnerships and expanding into new genre areas, focussing on the Northern regions and other under invested areas.

Rick Murray CEO of the Workerbee Group, will oversee the strategy of acquisition and growth across the northern group, identifying companies with potential and working with them to nurture and grow their businesses. Over the past 5 years Workerbee has grown its turnover three-fold. Making a range of premium factual and formats for linear and Svod platforms alike, recent hits have included "Janet" for Lifetime and A&E, "The Bridge" for Channel 4 and HBO Max, "Peter Crouch: Save Our Beautiful Game" for Discovery and Idris Elba’s "Fight School" for BBC Two.

The business has recently been restructured to build on this success focusing on premium factual in its ‘Films’ division and fact ent and reality in its ‘Formats’ division. External businesses will expand on these areas as well as covering a range of unscripted areas. Regional expansion and growth are key strategic pillars for Banijay UK with bases now in Manchester, including the quickly expanding Dragonfly North and Kudos North, Scotland where IWC and The Comedy Unit are based and Bristol and Wales with RDF West.

“Rick is not only a brilliant creative leader but an entrepreneur with a keen eye on developing talent and a passion for growing the industry in the north. Talent is at the heart of everything we do at Banijay UK and we are ambitious to invest in new production entities. Rick’s ambition to build the business and become a catalyst to growth outside of London is inspiring” Patrick Holland, Executive Chair and CEO, Banijay UK, said.

“The opportunity to create a group that empowers indies based in the nations and regions to reach their full potential is something I’m delighted to be tasked with. Investment in talent and IP as a route to growth is what Banijay is all about and I’m delighted that they are backing me to do this in the north. I like to think that at Workerbee we have proved that you don’t have to be based in London to think big, and now we have the infrastructure and expertise to build a portfolio of likeminded labels… I can’t wait to get stuck in,” Rick Murray, CEO, Workerbee Group added.