Melanie Leach & Andrew Mackenzie Set To Leave The Jump Producer Twofour Group & Set Up ITV-Owned Business

EXCLUSIVE: Melanie Leach and Andrew Mackenzie are exiting The Jump and This Time Next Year producer Twofour Group to set up their own ITV-backed venture.

Deadline understands that the pair, who are CEO and Chief Creative Officer of Twofour respectively, are in the concluding phase of talks with ITV Studios to back their new production business South Shore.

This comes four years after ITV acquired TwoFour Group, one of the largest non-scripted producers in the UK, in a deal that cost it £55M for a 75% stake.

South Shore will produce documentaries, popular factual programming and entertainment formats. Leach and Mackenzie are to continue to oversee Twofour until talks with ITV Studios close. Twofour CFO and COO Anthony Hughes will also join them at South Shore.

TwoFour Group was founded in 1989 by former BBC news producer Charles Wace with Leach becoming CEO in 2014. It also produces series including the Educating franchise, ITV2s Ibiza Weekender, Channel 5 reality format Undercover Girlfriends and BBC Twos The Real Marigold Hotel.

Leach and Mackenzie (left) said, “Weve enjoyed every moment of growing Twofour into the brilliant brand that it is today. Now feels like the natural point to hand the company onto a new team and were leaving it in great hands. Were very excited to be working with Julian and ITV Studios again as we embark on our next adventure.”

Julian Bellamy, Managing Director, ITV Studios, said, ”Mel and Andy have been the driving force behind Twofours huge success over the last few years and have been behind an array of brilliant shows from the Educating series to The Real Marigold Hotel. Theyre a truly formidable creative partnership and leave the company in rude health with a great senior team in place, and I am looking forward to their next chapter and the immense potential of South Shore.

Twofour Group will continue with Tim Carter, Managing Director of ITVs MultiStory Media taking charge of the company. The newly created role will see Carter at the helm of businesses, which will retain their separate identities aRead More – Source