Argonon is an independent media group founded in 2011 by
James Burstall, the CEO of Leopard Films. Argonon has offices in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
,
New York,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
,
Oklahoma, and
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
. The group produces and distributes factual entertainment, documentary, reality, entertainment, arts, drama, and children's programming for various television networks and channels worldwide, although they focus on the UK, US, and Canadian markets. Argonon produces shows such as
The Masked Singer UK (ITV), Worzel Gummidge (BBC One),
Dispatches (Channel 4), Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard (BBC One),
House Hunters International (HGTV) and
Hard Cell
''Hard Cell'' is a British mockumentary sitcom streaming television series developed by Catherine Tate, who also plays six of the main characters. The series premiered on 12 April 2022 on Netflix, and consists of six episodes. The series was ca ...
(
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
).
History
In 2017, Argonon invested in a joint venture—Bandicoot—in partnership with Derek McLean and Daniel Nettleton. In the same year Leopard Pictures invested in Kristian Smith, twice BAFTA winner, as Chief Creative Officer.
Argonon won the National Winner Award (UK) at the European Awards in 2018 and 2019. Argonon has won 130 awards including Emmys, BAFTAs, and RTS Awards, and received over 200 nominations.
In 2020, Argonon acquired branded video agency
Nemorin Film & Video bringing Nemorin's CEO Pete Fergusson into the group.
In 2021, Argonon launched a factual formats-focused production company, Studio Leo, with Claire Collinson-Jones becoming Chief Creative Officer of the firm.
In 2022, Argonon partnered with Joe Weinstock to launch a new production company, Rose Rock Entertainment.
The group saw a turnover of £55.6m in 2021. Argonon was listed in the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...
"1000 Companies To Inspire Britain 2016" report and the 2017 report. Argonon was also listed in the 2016 Sunday Times HSBC Track 200.
Companies (current)
Bandicoot TV
Bandicoot TV (sometimes credited as Bandicoot Scotland) was founded in 2017 by Derek McLean and Daniel Nettleton as a joint venture with Argonon. Productions include ''
Chase The Case'' for BBC1, ''Test Drive'' for
BBC Scotland and ITV's versions of ''
The Masked Singer
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' and spin-off ''
The Masked Dancer''.
''The Masked Singer'' is a singing competition based on the ''
Masked Singer
''Masked Singer'' is an international music reality game show franchise. It originated from the South Korean program '' The King of Mask Singer'', developed by Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation.
Format
The format features the celebrities who per ...
'' franchise and is an ongoing production for Bandicoot. It is directed by Casey Antwis and Simon Staffurth, with
Jonathan Ross,
Davina McCall
Davina Lucy Pascale McCall (born 16 October 1967) is an English television presenter. She was the presenter of the reality show '' Big Brother'' during its run on Channel 4 between 2000 and 2010. She also hosted Channel 4's ''Streetmate'' (199 ...
,
Ken Jeong
Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong (, ; born July 13, 1969) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, producer, writer and licensed physician. He rose to prominence for playing Leslie Chow in ''The Hangover'' film series (2009–2013) and Ben Chang in the ...
, and
Rita Ora
Rita Sahatçiu Ora (born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence in February 2012 when she featured on DJ Fresh's single, "Hot Right Now", which reached number one in the UK. Her debut stud ...
as panellists.
In series two, Jeong was replaced by
Mo Gilligan
Mosiah Bikila Gilligan (born 19 February 1988) is a British stand-up comedian. He is known for his observational comedy. After several years of uploading comedy clips to social media, he found global success in 2017. He hosted '' The Lateish Sho ...
. The spin-off series,
''The Masked Dancer'', featured Jonathan Ross, Davina McCall, Mo Gilligan and
Oti Mabuse as panellists.
Joel Dommett
Joel Patrick Dommett (born 8 June 1985) is an English actor, author, comedian, and television presenter. He is known for his television roles in '' Live in Chelsea'', ''Impractical Jokers UK'', '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!,'' ''Joel ...
has hosted all series of ''The Masked Singer and'' ''The Masked Dancer''.
''The Masked Singer'' won a
Royal Television Society Programme Award 2021 in the Entertainment category and an
International Emmy Award
The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sci ...
2021 in the Non-Scripted Entertainment category.
''The Masked Singer Live!'' tour version of the show was announced by
Joel Dommett
Joel Patrick Dommett (born 8 June 1985) is an English actor, author, comedian, and television presenter. He is known for his television roles in '' Live in Chelsea'', ''Impractical Jokers UK'', '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!,'' ''Joel ...
in an appearance on ''
The One Show
''The One Show'' is a British television magazine and chat show programme. Broadcast live on BBC One weeknights at 7:00 pm, it features topical stories and studio guests. It is currently co-hosted by Alex Jones, Jermaine Jenas, and Ronan K ...
'' in December 2021. ''The Masked Singer Live!'' toured the UK throughout 2022. The third series of ''The Masked Singer'' premiered on ITV on January 1, 2022.
In February 2022, it was announced that ''The Masked Singer'' had been recommissioned by ITV for two further seasons. The fourth series of ''The Masked Singer'' will premiere on January 1, 2023.
Bandicoot was also behind ''Peckham's Finest'' for ITV2. This was an observational documentary series following a diverse group of young people from the area of
Peckham, London.
BriteSpark Films
BriteSpark Films (also credited as BrightSpark East) launched as a co-venture between documentary film-maker Nick Godwin and the Argonon group in 2013.
In 2018, Argonon acquired full ownership of the company, with Godwin staying on as Creative Director. The company produces factual, features, documentary and drama-documentary programming for the international market and has worked with ITV, Channel 5, Channel 4,
Shaw Media, Discovery International, and Discovery ID.
Productions include long-running Channel 5 series ''Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords'' which focuses on conflicts between landlords and tenants; a portrait of London's jewellers working in the
Hatton Garden
Hatton Garden is a street and commercial zone in the Holborn district of the London Borough of Camden, abutting the narrow precinct of Saffron Hill which then abuts the City of London. It takes its name from Sir Christopher Hatton, a favouri ...
district called ''Diamond Geezers and Gold Dealers'' (for ITV); a programme for Channel 4 called ''Manchester's Serial Killer?'' which investigates a spate of suspicious deaths in Manchester's canals; a drama-documentary series for Investigation Discovery called ''The Wives Did It'' which profiles murder cases involving polygamy. BriteSpark also produces ''Incredible Engineering Blunders: Fixed'' for Discovery International and a madcap, gross-out, comedy game show called ''What The Yuck?!'' with ''Geordie Shore'' star Nathan Henry.
BriteSpark also produced the
Bill Nighy
William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with '' The Illuminatus!'' in 1977. There he ...
narrated Channel 5 travel documentaries ''World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys'' and ''World's Most Scenic River Journeys'', with the latter series co-produced with the
Blue Ant-owned Saloon Media in Canada.
BriteSpark also produced several episodes for Channel 4's current affairs strand ''
Dispatches'', including ''Royals for Hire'', ''Deep Fakes: Can You Trust Your Eyes?'', ''Coronavirus: How Britain is Changing'', ''The Prince and the Paedophile'' and ''The Truth About Electric Cars.''
Leopard Pictures
Leopard Pictures was launched in 2017 from the previously titled Leopard Drama. Kristian Smith was appointed Chief Creative Officer.
Their most recent shows were ''
Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge is a scarecrow in British children's fiction, who originally appeared in a series of books by the English novelist Barbara Euphan Todd. '', a two-part children's drama series which aired on BBC1 starring
Mackenzie Crook
Paul James "Mackenzie" Crook (born 29 September 1971) is an English actor, comedian, director and writer. He played Gareth Keenan in ''The Office'', Ragetti in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films, Orell in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones ...
, the animated ''Mimi And The Mountain Dragon,'' and ''The Snow Spider'' (CBBC & BBC One Wales).
Crook features in the titular role in ''Worzel Gummidge'', while also writing and directing the series. The miniseries is an adaptation of
Barbara Euphan Todd
Barbara Euphan Todd (9 January 1890 – 2 February 1976) was an English writer widely remembered for her ten books for children about a scarecrow called Worzel Gummidge. These were adapted for radio and television. The title story was chosen as ...
's series of books in which the character
Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge is a scarecrow in British children's fiction, who originally appeared in a series of books by the English novelist Barbara Euphan Todd. , a magical scarecrow, appears. Two one-hour specials aired in December 2019, titled The Scarecrow of Scatterbrook and The Green Man. The third one-hour special, titled Saucy Nancy, aired in December 2020. Saucy Nancy won an RTS Craft & Design Award in 2021 in the Sound – Drama category.
In November 2021, a Bonfire Night special of ''Worzel Gummidge'' titled ''Guy Forks'', aired. Two further one-hour ''Worzel Gummidge'' specials aired on BBC One in December 2021, titled Twitchers and Calliope Jane.
Leopard Pictures' latest production, ''
Hard Cell
''Hard Cell'' is a British mockumentary sitcom streaming television series developed by Catherine Tate, who also plays six of the main characters. The series premiered on 12 April 2022 on Netflix, and consists of six episodes. The series was ca ...
'', starring
Catherine Tate
Catherine Jane Ford (born 5 December 1969), known professionally as Catherine Tate, is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has won numerous awards for her work on the BBC sketch comedy series '' The Catherine Tate Show'' (2004–2007) ...
was released on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
in April 2022.
Leopard USA
Leopard USA creates reality, lifestyle, and entertainment programming. From its office in New York City, Leopard USA produces hundreds of hours of programming yearly for television and digital distribution for channels including
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
,
HGTV,
DIY
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...
,
GSN,
A&E,
TruTV
TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows.
The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that fo ...
,
Speedvision
Speed was an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television network that was owned by the Fox Sports Media Group division of 21st Century Fox. The network was dedicated to motorsports programming, including auto racing, as well as aut ...
,
Discovery
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown
* Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown
* Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence
Discovery, The Discover ...
,
TLC
TLC may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Television
* ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2
* TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network
** TLC (Asia), an A ...
,
BBC America
BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary seri ...
, and
CNBC
CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...
. Leopard USA was founded in 2002 and became part of the Argonon group in 2011.
The first programme produced by Leopard USA was ''Cash in the Attic USA'' for HGTV.
Leopard USA programming includes HGTV's ''
House Hunters International'', with over 2000 episodes and 160 series completed to date. The programme brand has extended to further shows including ''House Hunters Off the Grid'' and ''House Hunters International: The Adventure Continues''. ''House Hunters International'' won a Critics Choice Real TV Award 2021 for Best Lifestyle: Home/Garden Show.
''
Man Caves'' is a long-running home renovation reality show which was first produced by Leopard USA in 2007 and is presented by former Super Bowl winner
Tony Siragusa
Anthony Siragusa Sr. (May 14, 1967 – June 22, 2022), nicknamed "the Goose", was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle for 12 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and the Baltimore Ravens in the National Football L ...
for cable channel DIY.
Dear Genevieve
''Dear Genevieve'' is a television show on the U.S. cable network HGTV, hosted by Genevieve Gorder.
The series debuted in January 2009, on HGTV. The show focuses on how Gorder designs a room or an area for a family, after they have written to t ...
, featuring designer and presenter
Genevieve Gorder
Genevieve Gorder (born July 26, 1974) is an American television host and interior designer. She hosted Bravo's ''Best Room Wins''. Previously, she hosted '' Stay Here'' on Netflix, ''Genevieve's Renovation'', "White House Christmas," and ''Dear Gen ...
, launched on HGTV in 2009, and each episode sees Gorder design a room or an area for a family after they have written to the show asking for help.
Other programming highlights include Food Network's ''Restaurant Divided'' and CNBC's ''The Filthy Rich Guide''. Programmes for A&E include ''Missing Las Vegas'', ''Disaster Guy'', and ''Ransom Squad''.
In 2019, a multi-part series called ''Mormon Love'' was aired on
Facebook Watch
Facebook Watch is a video on demand service operated by American company Meta Platforms (previously named Facebook, Inc.). The company announced the service in August 2017 and was available to all U.S. users that month. Facebook Watch's original ...
. It was produced by James Burstall, Rick de Oliveira, and Jillian Brand.
In 2021, six episodes of the US revival of ''Cash in the Attic'', hosted by Courtney Tezeno, aired on HGTV and was later available to stream on Discovery+. The series is executive produced by Leopard USA's Chief Creative Officer, Lindsay Schwartz, and Argonon CEO James Burstall.
Like a Shot Entertainment
In 2018, Argonon bought Like a Shot Entertainment. The company invests in history and factual science programming and is involved in rights management. Henry Scott and Steve Gillham are the directors of the company, who co-founded the company in 2011.
The company handles production of shows such as
UKTV-Yesterday's/
Science Channel
Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, man ...
's ''Abandoned Engineering'',
''Forbidden History'' and ''Smoke & Steel.''
Like A Shot's latest production, ''Black Panthers of WWII'' aired on UKTV-Yesterday channel in October 2021 as part of Black History Month. The one-off documentary special tells the story of a tank battalion composed of African-American service members, the first US armoured unit of its kind to enter combat.
In September 2022, Like A Shot launched a 10 episode podcast series, ''Forbidden History.''
Nemorin Film & Video
In December 2020, Argonon acquired branded video agency, Nemorin Film & Video. Key people include Nemorin Founder and CEO Pete Fergusson.
Nemorin Film & Video has produced content for brands such as
Hugo Boss
Hugo Boss AG, often styled as BOSS, is a luxury fashion house headquartered in Metzingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company sells clothing, accessories, footwear, and fragrances. Hugo Boss is one of the largest German clothing companies, ...
,
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...
,
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
,
American Express,
Nat Geo, and
NBC Universal
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...
.
Rose Rock Entertainment
Rose Rock Entertainment launched in 2022 as a joint venture between Joe Weinstock and the Argonon Group. Rose Rock Entertainment launched with offices in Los Angeles and Oklahoma and will focus on delivering cinematic American factual content.
Studio Leo
Studio Leo was launched by Argonon in early 2021 and is led by Claire Collinson-Jones. The company's first production was a three-part documentary series titled ''Inside Tesco 24/7'' that aired on Channel 5 in June 2021. The docuseries explored the story of Britain's biggest retailer,
Tesco
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
.
Studio Leo produced the revived ''Cash in the Attic'' series for Channel 5, which returned for 40 x 60' episodes in 2022. The renewed series was hosted by
Chris Kamara
Christopher Kamara (born 25 December 1957) is an English former professional football player and manager who worked as a presenter and football analyst at Sky Sports from 1992 to 2022.
As a player, he was known as a tough-tackling midfielder. H ...
and co-hosted by the original series' host,
Jules Hudson. Claire Collinson-Jones was the Executive Producer.
Windfall Films
Windfall Films is a BAFTA and
Emmy award-winning independent production company. Founded in 1988 by David Dugan, Ian Duncan, and Oliver Morse, it became part of the Argonon group in 2014.
The company produces factual and documentary programmes across various genres, including science, engineering, social, history, adventure, and natural history. The company produces programmes for international television networks including BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5,
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
,
Discovery Channel,
National Geographic Channel, and
History Channel
History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
.
Highlights include ''Murder Trial'' for Channel 4 which won many documentary awards in 2014, including a BAFTA award for best Single Documentary, a Grierson award for Best Documentary on a Contemporary Theme, an RTS award for Best Single Documentary and a Broadcast Award for Best Single Documentary.
''Your Inner Fish'' for PBS (produced in collaboration with Tangled Bank Studios) won two Wildscreen Panda Awards, two Jackson Hole Science Media awards, and an AAAS Kavli award.
''The Batman of Mexico'' for BBC Natural World won a Wildscreen Panda Award and a New York Wild Film Festival award.
In 2009, ''
Sons of Cuba'', a feature documentary about an inspirational boxing academy in Havana and winner of Best Documentary at the Rome Film Festival and Best Newcomer Grierson Award.
Science and Natural History highlights include ''
Inside Nature's Giants
''Inside Nature's Giants'' is a British science documentary, first broadcast in June 2009 by Channel 4. The documentary shows experts performing dissection on some of nature's largest animals, including whales and elephants.
The programme is ...
'' for Channel 4, which won a BAFTA for Best Specialist Factual; ''The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway'' about the Crossrail project in London for BBC 2; ''Strip the Cosmos'' for Discovery's
Science Channel
Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, man ...
; ''Born in the Wild'' and ''Operation Maneater'' for Channel 4; ''Spider House'' for
BBC Four; ''The Raising of the Costa Concordia'' for NGCI and PBS NOVA; ''Race & Intelligence: Science's Last Taboo'', an investigation by Rageh Omaar which launched a Channel 4 season on race.
Additional notable science highlights include ''Inside Einstein's Mind'' for
BBC Four, ''Einstein's Quantum Riddle'' for
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
, ''Saving Planet Earth: Fixing a Hole'' for Channel 4, which won Best Science Film at
Green Screen 2019, and ''How to See a Black Hole: The Universe's Greatest Mystery'' for BBC Four, which captured the first-ever image of a black hole and won a Gold Award at the 2020 New York Festivals TV and Film Awards in the Science & Technology category.
Windfall also produced the Emmy award-winning series DNA for PBS and Channel 4 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the double helix for Channel 4 and PBS; ''Absolute Zero'' was a series about the science of extreme cold for PBS and BBC 4; ''Wanted: Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid'' was produced for C4 True Stories and PBS NOVA and ''Reality On The Rocks'' was a Channel 4 series that follows Ken Campbell trying to get to grips with ''A Brief History of Time''.
Windfall Films has produced live multi-platform events for Channel Four, including ''D Day: As It Happens'', winner of a Digital Emmy, a BAFTA craft innovation award and two
Webby Awards
The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories includ ...
; ''Easter Eggs Live''; ''Foxes Live: Wild in the City''; ''The Operation: Surgery Live'', a week of live surgery.
Windfall has produced several historical documentaries, including ''Generals At War'', a 'cardboard' battle strategy format for NGCI; ''Attack of the Zeppelins''; and ''Dambusters: Building the Bouncing Bomb'' (for C4 and PBS NOVA); ''The Great Escape: Revealed'' for Channel 5 and PBS; ''Colditz''; ''Men of Iron'' and ''Commando'', all for Channel 4.
Windfall has also produced engineering formats illustrated with CGI, including for Discovery's Science Channel; for H2 and Discovery Canada; ''Big, Bigger, Biggest'' for Channel 5 and National Geographic Channel and five series of ''
Monster Moves
''Monster Moves'' is a British documentary television series which began airing in 2005. A total 31 episodes have been produced across 6 seasons so far.
Format
Each episode follows the high risk jobs of moving teams on their journeys to reloca ...
'' for Channel 5 and Discovery Channel. Other programmes include two factually-based dramas for Channel Four: ''Born with Two Mothers'' and ''Richard is My Boyfriend'' and award-winning observational documentaries for Channel 4, including ''The Decision'' and ''Fifteen'' for BBC.
Windfall has also produced adventure formats including ''The Tourist Trap'' spied on four different nationalities on holiday and ''Lost!'', dropping three blindfolded groups of competitors anywhere in the world and then following their progress as they race home, and ''Mutiny'' for Channel 4, an experimental programme challenging modern men to relive the ''
Mutiny on the Bounty
The mutiny on the Royal Navy vessel occurred in the South Pacific Ocean on 28 April 1789. Disaffected crewmen, led by acting-Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, seized control of the ship from their captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and set h ...
'' of 1789.
Large returning formats produced by Windfall include: ''Strip the Cosmos'' for
Discovery Science, ''Railroad Alaska'' for
Discovery Channel, ''Unearthed'' for Discovery Channel, ''Lost Treasures of Egypt'' for
Nat Geo, ''My Floating Home'' for
More4
More4 is a British free-to-air television channel, owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The channel launched on 10 October 2005. Its programming mainly focuses on lifestyle and documentaries, as well as foreign dramas.
Content
When ...
, ''Europe From Above'' for Nat Geo, and the ''
Royal Institution Christmas Lectures
The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825, missing 1939–1942 because of the Second World War. The lectures present sc ...
'' for BBC.
In 2021, Windfall produced the documentary, Jabbed! Inside Britain's Vaccine Triumph for Channel 4, telling the story of the government's
Vaccine Taskforce – the team responsible for finding, funding and procuring Covid vaccines, specifically the
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The documentary won a
BAFTA Scotland award in the News & Current Affairs category.
Other notable productions include Attenborough, and the Mammoth Graveyard for BBC One, presented by
Sir David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...
.
In January 2022, Windfall Films released their first feature length film, ''The Wall - Climb for Gold.'' The film followed the lives of four elite female climbers,
Brooke Raboutou
Brooke Raboutou (born April 9, 2001) is an American professional rock climber. At age 9, she ticked a and became the youngest female to climb a . At 10, she sent a and became the youngest female to climb . At 11, she became the youngest femal ...
,
Janja Garnbret
Janja Garnbret (born March 12, 1999) is a Slovenian rock climber and sport climber who has won multiple lead climbing and bouldering events at climbing competitions. In 2021, she became the first ever female Olympic gold medalist in sport climbin ...
,
Miho Nonaka
is a Japanese competition boulderer. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Women's combined, winning a silver medal.
Life
Her father and sister introduced her to climbing when she was 9, and she competed in her first world cup aged 17 ...
, and
Shauna Coxsey
Shauna Coxsey (born 27 January 1993) is an English professional rock climber. She is the most successful competition climber in the UK, having won the IFSC Bouldering World Cup Season in both 2016 and 2017. She retired from competition climbi ...
, and their journey to Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Windfall Films has been featured in
Broadcast Magazine's top ten polls of independent production companies.
Companies (previous)
Leopard Drama (now Leopard Pictures)
Leopard Drama produced contemporary British drama and comedy for various broadcasters, including BBC, ITV, and CBBC, and co-produced theatrical cinema releases. Leopard Pictures was founded in 2005 and became part of the Argonon group in 2011.
The most recent series was
Eve
Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
, a 13-part children's drama series which aired on CBBC in the UK, running for three series.
Previous TV drama includes
An Englishman in New York
"An Englishman in New York" is a song by Godley & Creme, from their 1979 album '' Freeze Frame''. It is memorable for an innovative self-produced music video which involved Godley singing in front of Creme, as Creme conducted mannequins dresse ...
starring John Hurt and Cynthia Nixon which aired on ITV and in several countries throughout the world. The film received several accolades including a 2009 Teddy Award at the Berlinale for Outstanding Performance by an Actor for John Hurt. Also in 2009, the film was Winner, Best Feature, at the Hamburg Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. The film was nominated for a Best Actor BAFTA for John Hurt in 2010 and nominated in two categories at the BAFTA TV Craft Awards in 2010 with
Joey Attawia nominated for Best Costume Design and Beth Mickle for Best Production Design. The filmed received a Royal Television Society Craft and Design Awards nomination for
Joey Attawia in 2010, and was a nominee at the Rose D'Or Global Television Festival for Best Drama & Mini Series as well as a nominee at the Glaad Media Awards in 2010 in the category of Outstanding TV Movie or Mini Series.
Mysterious Creatures for ITV1 starring
Brenda Blethyn and
Timothy Spall
Timothy Leonard Spall (born 27 February 1957) is an English actor and presenter. He became a household name in the UK after appearing as Barry Spencer Taylor in the 1983 ITV comedy-drama series '' Auf Wiedersehen, Pet''.
Spall performed in '' ...
was nominated for a
Royal Television Society award for Sharon Martin in the category of Best Hair, and Makeup and was the winner of the Best Single & Serial Drama at the Mental Health Media Awards (sponsored by BAFTA) in 2007. Missing was a crime drama starring
Pauline Quirke
Pauline Perpetua Sheen ( Quirke; born 8 July 1959) is an English actress who has played Sharon Theodopolopodous in the long-running comedy series '' Birds of a Feather'' (1988–1999, 2014–2017). For this role, she won the 1990 British Comed ...
for BBC One, which ran for two series and was shortlisted for Best Drama Series at the Mental Health Awards in 2009.
The production company also produced a one-off comedy-drama, The Grey Man, based on a novel by
Andy McNab
Steven Billy Mitchell, (born 28 December 1959), usually known by the pseudonym and pen-name of Andy McNab, is a novelist and former British Army infantry soldier.
He came into public prominence in 1993 when he published a book entitled '' Bra ...
, for BBC One and a 5-part series of comedy shorts, Conversations with my Wife for BBC Comedy starring
Lenny Henry
Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and writer.
Henry gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in '' The Le ...
.
Leopard Pictures' first co-produced feature was
The Holding, released in 2012, starring
Vincent Regan
Vincent Regan (born 16 May 1965) is a British film and television actor, best known for his roles in ''300'', ''Troy'', '' Unleashed'', '' Clash of the Titans'' and '' Lockout''.
Early life
Regan was born on 16 May 1965 in Swansea, Glamorgan, ...
. The film won an award at Fantasporto, the International Fantasy Film Awards in 2012 for Susan Jacobson in the category of Best Director and was nominated at the
Chicago International Film Festival
The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...
in 2011 in the After Dark Competition.
Leopard Films
Founded in 2001, Leopard Films was one of the first companies to join Argonon in 2011 and supplies programmes across the factual, factual entertainment, children's, and art genres for broadcasters across the UK including
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
The first show produced by the production company was Monstrous Bosses and How to Be One for BBC1. The second was
for the BBC, which ran for ten years on the BBC and went on to transmit in 167 countries following its launch in 2002. The series was nominated for a Royal Television Society Programme Awards, 2008, for Best Daytime Programme in 2002. An offshoot series
was produced by Leopard Films and a website www.cashintheattic.com launched in 2013 in the UK and 2015 in the US, as a digital brand extension of the show.
Other programmes include The War on Britain's Roads for BBC One in 2014 which explored the tensions between cyclists and motorists on Britain's roads and was nominated for a Grierson Award for Best Documentary on a Contemporary Theme Leopard Films produced Tourette's: Let Me Entertain You for BBC Three where musicians with Tourette's Syndrome were given the chance to perform in front of a live audience.
Other commissions for Leopard included Street Patrol UK for BBC One, Britcam: Emergency on our Streets (
), Snowtrapped for Channel 5 and Robbed, Raided, Reunited for BBC Two.
(BBC One) was nominated for a Royal Television Society award for Best Daytime programme in 2008 and won a CorpComms Award for Best Use of Broadcast as Part of a Communication Strategy. Other programmes included My Daughter, Deafness and Me for BBC One, Is Oral Sex Safe for
, Dispatches: Cash vs Cards for Channel 4.
A major debate around immigration in the UK followed the documentary The Day the Immigrants Left presented by
. The programme was nominated at the Rose D'Or Festival for Best Mini-series in 2010.
In 2015, Leopard Films produced the six-part series Britain's Got the Builders in for
.
The company produces a slate of art documentaries and live art performance programming including Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty for BBC Two; Imagine: A Beauty is Born for BBC One, Matthew Bourne's Christmas for Channel 4; The World of Matthew Bourne which won the Czech Crystal in 2012 for Recordings of Opera,
in 3D, Operetta, Musicians, Dance, ballet, Concerts Category and a Prix Italia in 2013 in the Performing Arts Category; Bussell on Ballerinas for BBC One; Death in Venice for Sky Arts 2; Bach: A Passionate Life for BBC Two which won the Czech Crystal in 2013 for Documentary Programmes dedicated to Music and Dance Leonardo Live for Sky1 and cinematic release and Big Dance for Channel 4.
The company also produced two series of children's format
.
Transparent Television produces prime-time factual entertainment and documentary programming, which is run by co-founder and managing director Jazz Gowans. The company joined the Argonon group in 2012. The production company works with several major UK broadcasters, including BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Yesterday TV Channel, Food Network, and
to produce factual programming, documentaries, and formats, and often features with a theme of real-life stories and populist themes.
Commissioned shows include six series of access-all-areas cosmetic surgery series Botched up Bodies at Channel 5 and spin-off shows Botched Up Brides and Botched Up Abroad. A youth-skewed version has also aired on MTV. Jonathan Phang's Gourmet Trains was transmitted on Food Network in 2013, and the second series was launched in 2015.
The Incredible Hulk Woman was also transmitted as part of the Extraordinary People season on Channel 5 in 2014. The Great Northern Cookbook series aired on Channel 5 in 2013 and was accompanied by a cookbook detailing the recipes featured in the show.
Transparent TV has also produced several documentaries focused on issues, including The Baby With the New Face for Channel 5, Leslie Ash: Face to Face for ITV1, 7 New Faces in 7 Days for Channel 5, and Queer as Old Folk for Channel 4.
Other productions include Restoration Roadshow and Italia Contia: Living the Dream for BBC Two, Danger: Diggers at Work for Channel 5, Mitch Winehouse's Showbiz Rant for UK Living spin-off channel LIV and I was a Jet Stewardess for Yesterday.
Founded in 2003 by Toby Dormer and Juliet Borges, Remedy Productions was one of the first production companies to join Argonon in 2011.
The company was the No 1. independent producer of entertainment programming in the UK in 2014, delivering over 1000 hours of content to the major terrestrial, digital and online channels every year. Denis O'Connor is Chief Creative Officer, and Bernie Costello is the managing director.
Remedy produces content across the entertainment, music, and live event genres as well as branded and digital content, and has supplied content to Channel 4, BBC,
, and BSkyB. Remedy's most recent productions include
and Celebrity Fifteen to One for Channel 4. Other programmes include BBC Radio 1's Teen Awards for CBBC, BBC Three, and iPlayer and over 1000 hours of music programming for MTV, including The Official Top 40 and MTV News.
Remedy Canada was launched in 2012 by Toby Dormer with investment from Argonon.
The production company's first series commission was Cabin Truckers, produced for
in Canada, where the programme follows the lives of those helping to transport dream homes to dream locations, against the visually stunning backdrop of Western Canada. In 2015, Remedy Canada was commissioned by Shaw Media's
to produce First Dates Canada.
In addition to producing its shows for Canadian broadcasters, Remedy acts as a partner for UK independent production companies wanting to work in Canada.
Argonon International is the global distribution arm of Argonon with a catalogue of over 2,000 hours of content across the genres of factual, lifestyle, formats, entertainment, drama, music, and arts.
Argonon International represents the content from across the Argonon group and some third-party content producers in markets across the world.