Princess Productions

Princess Productions was a London-based television production company, formed by Henrietta Conrad and Sebastian Scott, which produced broadcast shows and pilots for all the major British broadcasters across a variety of genres, mainly specialising in entertainment and factual entertainment programmes. Highlights included ''Got To Dance'', ''Must Be the Music'', '' T4'' and ''The Sunday Night Project''.

Based in Whiteleys in West London, Princess had its own television studio and in-house post-production facility.

History

Princess Productions was founded in 1996.

In 2006, Princess became part of the Shine Group, one of the United Kingdom’s largest television production company groups.

In 2017, Shine announced that Princess Productions would be closed by the end of the year, as it was “financially fragile” and was losing its space in Whiteleys, which was to be redeveloped for mixed residential and commercial use. The company went on for another year as Princess Studios before its website was taken down.

Controversies

In October 2011, an employee of Princess Productions left a message on the unofficial Army Rumour Service message boards pitching the idea of flying British soldiers’ wives and newborn babies into warzones as a surprise. The response was overwhelmingly negative. Soon afterwards, the Princess Productions website went offline. The company also posted an apology on the forum.

Programming

* ''Famous and Fearless'' – eight celebrities compete against each other in dangerous extreme sports to win money for charity and prove that they are the most fearless. (Channel 4, 2011)
* ''Got to Dance'' – search for the UK and Ireland’s best dance act, hosted by Davina McCall and judged by Ashley Banjo, Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt and tap dancer Adam Garcia. (Sky 1, 2010–2014)
* ''Must Be the Music'' – Sky1 talent competition for music acts who write and perform their own songs. All proceeds from record sales went direct to the artists. Hosted by Fearne Cotton and judged by Dizzee Rascal, Sharleen Spiteri and Jamie Cullum. (Sky 1, 2010)
* T4 – long-running weekend magazine show aimed at viewers aged 16 to 24 years old. Regular hosts included Will Best, Matt Edmondson, Nick Grimshaw, Jameela Jamil and Georgie Okell. (Channel 4, 1998–2012, E4 2012)
* iTunes Festival – coverage of the UK’s biggest indoor music festival, including gigs from London’s Roundhouse in Camden throughout every night of July. Presented by Fearne Cotton, Dave Berry and Matt Edmondson. (ITV2)
* ''The Wright Stuff'' – British television chat show, hosted by Matthew Wright. The format is based upon the more traditional radio phone in, featuring well-known guests discussing topical issues, and encouraging contributions from the studio and television audiences, text messages, e mails and a phone vote, originally produced by Anglia TV from 2000 to 2001. ( Channel 5, 2000–2018)
* '' Something for the Weekend'' – weekly magazine style entertainment show, including cookery, celebrity guests and television clips. (BBC Two, 2006–17 March 2012)
* ''Sunday Brunch'' – weekly magazine style entertainment show, including cookery, celebrity guests and television clips. (Channel 4, 25 March 2012–present)
* ''The Friday Night Project''/''The Sunday Night Project'' – weekly comedy variety show where regular hosts Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr are joined by a celebrity guest host. These guests provide an opening monologue, are interviewed by Alan and Justin and take questions from the studio audience. They also take part in comedy sketches, hidden camera stunts and a game show where someone from the audience is selected to win prizes. (Channel 4, 2005–2009)
* '' Eddie Stobart: Trucks & Trailers'' – documentary soap series following the stories behind Britain’s biggest haulage company and its drivers battles with the roads to get deliveries completed on time.
* ''The Search'' – ten contestants with unique skills must solve a variety of ancient clues and puzzles from throughout history, with the aim in each episode of finding “The Symbol”. The team which fulfils this directive wins the game and the losing team must then sacrifice a team member. The final episode saw the remaining (three) contestants compete to uncover a £50,000 hidden treasure. (Channel 4, 2007)
* ''Doctor, Doctor'' – live daily show which tackled a series of topical medical issues in front of a studio audience. ''Doctor Doctor'' was a one hour show, with medical experts in different fields answering viewers’ questions about their physical and mental wellbeing, (Channel 5, 2006).
* ''Date My Mum'' (UK) – similar to the United States version of the show (''Date My Mom''), each episode features a different guy looking for love in the weirdest place – on dates with three different mums. (MTV UK & Ireland, 2006–2007).
* ''Danger! 50,000 Volts!'' – Comedy survival series in which Nick Frost met up with experts in different fields of survival and asked questions on what to do in highly unlikely situations involving danger.
* '' Show Me the Money'' – live daily gameshow pitting teams against the Stock Exchange. It had a short two series run. The show won the Royal Television Society “Daytime Show of the Year”.. (Channel 4)
* ''Light Lunch'' – comedy daytime chat show with Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc.
* ''Lily Allen and Friends'' – chat show with singer Lily Allen, with an audience of her friends on MySpace. (BBC Three).

Notes

External links

Princess Productions (Official Homepage)Princess Studios
(apology on forum)

{{Authority control

Banijay
British companies established in 1996
Mass media companies established in 1996
Mass media companies disestablished in 2017
Television production companies of the United Kingdom