...as production company bolsters development team

TV production company Tiger Aspect has signed an exclusive deal with Phone Shop creator Phil Bowker that gives then first dibs on his next projects.

Under the contract, Bowker will  work on his own slate of projects both as a producer and writer, creating new scripted projects of his own and developing new projects from other writers and talent.

He said: ‘As we all know "excited" is possibly the most overused word in telly. Everybody is always excited about something or other. Mainly things that don’t warrant excitement. But this absolutely does. This excites the bejeebers out of me.’

David Simpson,  Tiger Aspect’s head of comedy added: ’We are absolutely delighted to welcome Phil into the Tiger family. He is such a talent and I have been a huge fan of his work for many years.’

Separately, Tiger Aspect has  bolstered its comedy team with the appointment of four new staff charged with developing new scripted projects.

Joining the team are executive producer Sarah Fraser, who previously oversaw the Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special;  Saima Ferdows and former BBC assistant commissioner Hannah Rose taking development producer roles and Jason Charles coming on board as development assistant. Ferdows already worked for Tiger Aspect while Charles joins from Douglas Road Productions

Tiger Aspect, which is part of Banijay UK, is behind hits including Bad Education, Mr Bean and Murder in Successville.  It is currently in production on the fourth series of Guz Khan's Man Like Mobeen.

Bowker started performing stand-up as a teenager in his native Liverpool before training as a comedy producer in the BBC radio light entertainment department in the early 1990s alongside the likes of Armando Iannucci. Moving into TV, Bowker has worked on shows including Sean Lock’s 15 Storeys High and Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly’s Pulling.

Published: 8 Dec 2022