As Director of Commissioning, Richard Watsham oversees the editorial, production and commercial partnerships elements of all UKTV originations.
He and his team of experienced programme-makers-turned-commissioners produce bold, brand-defining programmes across a wide variety of genres from factual through entertainment and from documentary to scripted comedy.
Richard commissioned the BAFTA-nominated live special Monty Python Live (Mostly): One Down Five to Go and multi-award winning Dynamo: Magician Impossible, as well as successful comedy entertainment shows for Dave, Dara O Briain’s School of Hard Sums, Dave Gorman Modern Life is Goodish and Taskmaster. He has overseen a move into scripted comedy including ratings hit Marley’s Ghosts and the high profile, critical success Comic Strip Presents… Red Top, both for Gold.
More recently, Richard has increased the network’s push into live broadcasts by ordering coverage of David Haye’s comeback fight against Australian Mark de Mori. The show delivered UKTV’s highest ever peak rating, with 3.2 million people tuning in.
Before joining UKTV, Richard spent more than ten years as a director and series producer, moving into broadcasting in January 2010 as Commissioning Editor of Virgin channel, Bravo.
