Boom appoints Hollie Abbott to lead its development tasks

 Boom has appointed Hollie Abbott as its Director of Development just as Channel 5 greenlights a third series of Skin A&E. “Hollie is an exceptional development lead with a real flair for popular factual, factual entertainment and reality formats, and I am delighted that she is stepping up into this new role," Nia Thomas, MD of Boom, said. "She is an innately intuitive creative who inspires and motivates her team.  Our aim is to continue to build a strong slate of returnable formats and help grow a first-class talent base here in Wales, and with Hollie at the helm, this is a wholly achievable ambition for Boom.  I can’t wait to continue to work with her and to support her in her new role.”

Boom Group is one of Wales’ largest production companies, responsible for over 400 hours of programming annually for BBC, S4C, ITV, Channel 5, Channel 4 and UKTV. From now on, Abbott is focused on growing the development team and developing more bold and original new programming for Boom’s growing network slate. The company is also home to production divisions Boom Cymru, Boom Kids and Boom Social, as well as leading Welsh post-production facility Gorilla and Visual Effects and Motion Graphics company, Bait Studio, while ITV Studios handles global distribution for Skin. A&E.

Abbott joined Cardiff-based Boom as a Development Executive at the end of 2020, having previously held development roles at Reef TV and the wider Zinc Media Group, Firecracker, Keshet and STV Studios and subsequently went on to secure Boom’s BBC Three/BBC Wales co-commission, "Hot Cakes."  The new series, which follows the young team behind one of the UK’s most inspirational insta-bakeries, situated in the heart of Cardiff, was generated as a result of the creative partnership between BBC Three, BBC Wales and Creative Wales which launched in November 2020. 

Other titles she is credited with include Channel 4’s "The Undateables," "Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over on W," "Great British Menu" on BBC Two and "Dave’s Special Ops: Crime Squad UK". “Having grown up in Cornwall and with a mixed Cornish and Welsh heritage, it’s amazing to have come back to my roots to one of the UK nations’ production powerhouses. There is a real momentum at Boom right now with multiple funded developments and I’m very excited about leading a truly talented team and building on the company’s reputation for quality programming.”