Wise Owl Films reached the five year landmark this week.

It was Bonfire Night 2018 when Mark Robinson, Kerry Allison and Stuart Ramsay launched an exciting new adventure - Wise Owl Films in Leeds - joined soon after by Charlotte Topliss and Nathalie Mayer.

Since then Wise Owl (and its youth label Hoot) have made 24 series and specials, employed hundreds of people, launched many careers, won awards and worked with an array of talent (on and off screen) – from David Jason to Peter Kay, Amanda Owen to Guy Garvey, West Yorkshire firefighters and Tyne & Wear Metro staff to Blondie.

Wise Owl Films picked up two wins at the RTS Yorkshire Awards held in Leeds on Friday October 20^th.

BBC Two’s When Tina Turner Came To Britain came out on top in the Factual Entertainment category.

The judges said: “The programme combined great insight with powerful storytelling. With access to a great set of contributors plus excellent use of archive footage, this programme was ‘Simply the Best’.

The story of Blondie’s enduring relationship with Britain is to be explored in a new BBC Two documentary made by Leeds-based Wise Owl Films.

When Blondie Came To Britain traces the connection between Britain and one of the most iconic bands in music history – from their first gig in Bournemouth in 1977 through to their electrifying performance on the Pyramid Stage at this year’s Glastonbury.

Featuring new interviews with band members past and present - Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Gary Lachman AKA Valentine, Jimmy Destri, Frank Infante and Nigel Harrison the 60 minute documentary is made by the company behind previous films in BBC Two’s When ‘X’ Came To Britain brand.

 Wise Owl Films has been shortlisted for a number of prestigious awards. 

The Hacienda: The Club That Shook Britain has been shortlisted in the Best Music Documentary category in the Grierson Awards. The post production work done by Leeds-based Sticks and Glass has been nominated in the RTS Yorkshire Post Production excellency category.

The BBC TWO documentary was filmed, produced and directed by Matt Drury, with Jess Illingworth as editor, Gurbir Dhillon as story producer and Michelle Turner as archive producer.

Meanwhile, Wise Owl has also received three nominations in the 2023 RTS Yorkshire Awards.

• Wise Owl Films – Production Company of the Year.
• Amanda Owen’s Farming Lives – Features category – this More4 series was produced by James Knight, series directed by Tom Kent, and series edit produced by Rachel Porter.
• When Tina Turner Came To Britain – Factual Entertainment – this BBC TWO Christmas Day documentary was produced and directed by Dhivya Kate Chetty, edited by James Alcock, archive produced by Michelle Turner, with Gurbir Dhillon as Story Producer.

Congratulations to everyone who worked on these projects. We would like to thank the many, many staff and freelancers who made them possible, as well as our commissioning editors Dawn Payne, Michael Gray, Diana Hare at the BBC and Jayne Stanger at More4.