Glenn Barden was one of the series producers of the National Geographic series '' One Strange Rock'' hosted by

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his acting career starring as a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom '' The Fresh ...

. He became known in the UK in 2000 for creating the controversial television endurance show '' Touch the Truck'', which was described by the ''Sunday Times'' as "the worst tv idea ever".

Education

Barden went to school in Brighton. He studied Management and Chemical Sciences at

University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research. On 1 Oct ...

and graduated with a BSc 2.1.

Career

Barden started his television career at MTV Europe, first working as a writer at MTV News and then as a producer/director, interviewing over 100 pop stars and musicians. He later became a senior member of the Creative team where he conceived and designed their primetime comedy and gossip show MTV Hot. The show's attitude and style were later used as the basis of Channel 4's

Popworld ''Popworld'' is a British television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4 as part of the T4 strand, featuring pop news, trivia, gossip, interviews and music videos, as well as musical performances from contemporary artists. The show bega ...

. In 1999 he was series producer of the BBC2 music series Acetate. In 2000 he produced and directed Hellraisers, a documentary on notable bad boys

Oliver Reed Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his ...

, Keith Moon and

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, notably as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Red Desert'', Frank Machin in '' This Sporting ...

. When broadcast on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

on a Saturday night it attracted over 2 million viewers. In the same year, he formed the independent production company Vashca. It launched with a series on religious cults for Channel 4 in the UK. Their output also included Bravo series I Predict a Riot and Virgin One's Rageh Omaar's Crime Invasion as well as the documentary The Real Dirk Diggler about the seventies porn star John Holmes. It was at Vashca that he co-created the existential endurance show Touch The Truck and sold the format across the world. In 2008 Barden left Vashca to return to freelance television work. In 2010 he was the series producer of Celebrity Masterchef 2010. The show was nominated as Best Factual Programme at the National TV Awards. In 2011 he was Series Producer of the National Geographic series The'90s: The Last Great Decade. In 2014 he produced and directed two episodes of

The Brain with David Eagleman ''The Brain with David Eagleman'' is a PBS documentary series created and presented by neuroscientist Dr. David Eagleman. Eagleman explores the wonders of the human brain with the goal of revealing why we feel and think the things we do. The seri ...

. In 2014 his novel My Little Soldiers, a romantic comedy about a man with infertility issues, was published by Piranha Press. In 2016 he began work on One Strange Rock as Series Producer. He worked on the series for almost 3 years. The series won three Wildscreen Awards It was also nominated for Best Science Documentary at the Grierson Awards 2018 and Emmy nominated for Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary. In 2019 he executive produced Chitty Flies Again. The documentary followed

David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series ''Little Br ...

as he built a real flying car. It aired on Channel 4 on New Years Day. In 2021 he executive produced the HBO true-crime series Rich and Shameless. In 2022 he released the feature documentary F**K IT UP! which he produced and directed with Dave Hills.

References

;General * * ;Specific Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British television producers {{UK-tv-bio-stub