Kate Ward to become Managing Director of Factual at BBC Studios Productions

Kate Ward has been appointed to the role of Managing Director of Factual at BBC Studios Productions. Reporting to Ralph Lee, CEO of BBC Studios Productions, she will oversee all BBC Studios’ Factual production units and partnerships, taking responsibility for the overall strategy, creative health, pipeline, and production capability across the genre.

The role, previously held by Tom McDonald, was expanded in February when BBC Studios brought together its production and content businesses to create a content powerhouse that could take a single strategic view across all BBC Studios’ productions, talent relationships and content investment. When she joins the BBC’s main commercial arm in February 2023, Ward will oversee one of the industry’s most respected production portfolios, including BBC Studios Productions’ world-renowned Natural History Unit, Documentary Unit and Science Unit, as well as Factual indie relationships with some of the most prestigious and award-winning indies such as Mindhouse Productions, Uplands TV and Rogan Productions.

“Our Factual portfolio, with the Natural History, Docs and Science units at its heart and a range of brilliant indie partners, is critical to our success and growth, so I’m delighted to have attracted a leader of Kate’s calibre to the MD role. She has both an infectious passion for great documentary storytelling and a deep understanding of the content market. I can’t wait to start working with her and building on the success story of Factual at BBC Studios,”  said Ralph Lee, CEO of BBC Studios Productions.

“I’m thrilled to be joining BBC Studios and to be working with the world leading programme makers and iconic brands that make up the Factual portfolio. Appetite for factual programming from both audiences and broadcasters alike continues to boom and I’m hugely excited to be part of Factual at BBC Studios as it is set to reach even greater heights,”  Kate Ward commented.

Ward will join from Vice Media Group where she serves as President of Vice Studios, the international television and feature film production arm of the youth media company, responsible for the development, production, and distribution of scripted, entertainment and factual content.