The Garden appoints Fiona Freed as Chief Operating Officer

ITV Studios company, The Garden has appointed Fiona Freed as Chief Operating Officer. “Fee brings a huge breadth of experience to this role – she’s a superb creative manager with an enviable reputation for ensuring teams are looked after and supported, and for combining consistent success with a strong sense of decency and purpose," John Hay, Joint CEO of The Garden, said. "The creative partnership between production management and editorial has always been at the heart of the way The Garden operates and Fee is the perfect person to continue it: as Nicola moves on she leaves a legacy to be very proud of – and in Fee I feel I have a brilliant ally for The Garden’s next chapter.”

Freed's appointment follows Joint CEO Nicola Hill's departure from the company, and other recent appointments, inlcuding that of Executive Producers Helen Bart and Jo Harcourt-Smith. Freed brings in year of experience garnered through various key executive positions at renowned production companies in the UK and at The Discovery Channel.  She has also run her own consultancy, working alongside clients including BBC Studios, Expectation, Big Deal Films, Raw, Netflix, the UK Government and een The Garden. Most recently she has advised and worked as interim Managing Director at both Story Films and Chimp Television.

Freed’s first collaboration with The Garden was on Channel 4’s BAFTA-winning Bedlam, and she went on to be Acting Head of Production at the company, with Channel 4’s "24 Hours" in A&E and BBC Two’s "Midwives" among the shows she contributed to. She then went on to become Head of Production for Factual, Features & Factual Entertainment at Tiger Aspect. Freed co-founded The Public Square, as an indie consultancy and multiplatform producer, just over two decades ago. “The Garden has always been held in a special place for me, not just because of the heart and innovation that runs through its output, but because of the values it aims to work by in a changing era.  Embarking on this new challenge is both exciting and a great privilege," Freed said.

Her appointment forms part of the company's effort to expand across genres, broadcasters and territories. In recent months, various reality and constructed factual commissioning deal have been secured, including "Netflix’s Squid Game: The Challenge" (a co-pro with Studio Lambert) and "Alone" for Channel 4, plus brand-new four-part series "Dark Phone" for Channel 4, the recommissions of the stripped medical box-set "Emergency" for two more series, the move of "24 Hours" in A&E to be shot in Nottingham and produced out of The Garden’s Manchester office, and returning title "24 Hours in Police Custody," delivering a series of powerful single films and two-part specials. Other recent critical and ratings successes for the company include "Our Falklands War: A Frontline Story" and Simon Reeve’s "South America," both for BBC Two, and new police format "Real PD" for Discovery+ in the US.