LIFTED ENTERTAINMENT HIRES THREE SENIOR EXECS FOR ITS DEVELOPMENT DIVISION

ITV Studios' Lifted Entertainment has hired three new senior executives for the company's overall development. Ramy El-Bergamy will oversee the company's development at at its northern base in MediaCityUK,  with Lee McNicholas who recently joined the label as Creative Director, North, while Sean O’Brien and Susannah Haley have joined as Development Producer and Development Executive respectively, 

The new hire announcement follows the recent addition of McNicholas and the commission of the new ITV primetime pilot, “Secret Gameshow." Both O'Brien and Haley are set to reporting into Head of Development, Kat Hebden in London.

El-Bergamy most recently contributed to Two Rivers Media and previously served as Head of Development of Daytime & Popular Factual at STV Productions. He has also garnered some of his experience at Channel 4, and has taken on producer roles for such as "Ex on the Beach," "Big Brother," and "Geordie Shore." “I am delighted that Ramy is joining the incredible team at Lifted Entertainment in Manchester,” Lee McNicholas said. “He joins us with a wealth of experience in production and development and I couldn’t be happier to have him on board.”

O’Brien arrives from Talkback where he played a great part in the development of Netflix’s “Too Hot to Handle,” as well as "Alan Carr’s Epic Gameshow" and “Harry’s Heroes: The Full English” and “Euro Having a Laugh” for ITV, and Jon Richardson, “Ultimate Worrier for Dave.” Haley specializes in comedy entertainment after years of developing and producing content for Channel 4. “Susannah and Sean are joining a brilliant creative team here at Lifted Entertainment at what is a really exciting time for the label,” Kat Hebden said.

The titles offered by the company are some of the most-watched of all time. The most recent series is “I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!,” which was filmed in the UK for the first time, accumulating over 25 million requests on the ITV Hub. “Love Island” is the most-watched show on ITV2 ever, while “Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway,” produced with Mitre Entertainment, returned for its 17th series last month, with 8.5 million viewers tuning in for its launch.