Plimsoll rebrands as studios and hands Alan Eyres bigger creative brief
ITV Studios-owned Plimsoll is splitting into five divisions as Alan Eyres returns from Los Angeles to its Bristol base.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Plimsoll Productions is changing its name to Plimsoll Studios and reshaping its creative setup, with U.S. chief Alan Eyres moving back to the UK for a broader development role, Deadline reported.
The ITV Studios-owned company, known for natural history programming and live event TV, will now operate across five divisions: Natural History & Adventure, Live, Entertainment, Family & Kids and Digital.
Two of those areas, Family & Kids and Digital, are effectively new additions to the structure. Deadline reported that Alex Ranken and Ged Mansfield will head the family division, while Neil Warwick, formerly of Aardman, has been brought in as a senior executive to lead digital.
Eyres, who had been running Plimsoll USA from Los Angeles, is relocating to the company’s Bristol headquarters. He will become chief development officer, a job that puts him across Plimsoll’s development slate and the allocation of creative resources.
He will continue reporting to Plimsoll founder and CEO Grant Mansfield.
Mansfield said Eyres had “done a stellar job” since joining the company three years ago, citing his work developing and executive producing titles including Skyscraper Live and Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston. Mansfield said the new post gives Eyres “strategic oversight” of Plimsoll Studios’ development slate.
A wider brief for a company moving beyond wildlife
Plimsoll has built much of its reputation on natural history series, including Disney+’s A Real Bug’s Life. The company has also been pushing further into live programming, including Netflix’s Skyscraper Live.
It is also behind the BBC series Secret Garden, which Deadline reported has been pitched to U.S. networks as a format, with a greenlight understood to be nearing.
Eyres said audiences now have vast on-demand choice and that “only the biggest and boldest ideas are able to break through.” He added that he was pleased to take on a role at a company associated with ambitious projects across several genres.
Digital gets its own lane
Warwick’s arrival gives Plimsoll a dedicated executive for digital. At Aardman, he created the company’s YouTube business, which Deadline reported delivered triple-digit revenue growth in its first year through shows including Learning Time with Timmy.
Plimsoll’s digital operation was set up quietly last year, according to Deadline. It will work with ITV Studios’ Zoo 55 and Studio 55 businesses.
Jonathan Jackson, Plimsoll’s COO and CFO, said using the company’s IP catalog online, while also making new material, is a strategic priority. Jackson said Warwick had built a strong digital presence for Aardman and that Plimsoll was confident he could do the same there.
Plimsoll’s recent projects include Netflix’s Nightmares of Nature with Blumhouse Television, the IMAX feature documentary Horse Power and the Emmy-winning A Real Bug’s Life for Disney+.
The company is also due this summer to launch Nat Geo and Disney+’s Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston and ITV’s Force of Nature. Earlier credits include Hostile Planet and Tiny World.
The changes come as Plimsoll’s parent company, ITV Studios, is set to become an independent player. Sky announced a £1.6 billion, or $2.1 billion, deal earlier this month to acquire the ITV network. Plimsoll has been part of ITV Studios since 2022, after a £103.5 million deal.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.