EXCLUSIVE: Welcome to Earth producer Nutopia has struck a deal with former Travel Channel and BBC Productions boss Pat Younge to develop a slate of global TV franchises with a focus on diversity and inclusion.
Younge and Nutopia will forge shows “rooted in the stories and perspectives of the African and Asian diaspora.”
The strategic collaboration reunites Younge with Nutopia Founder Jane Root, with the two having worked together at the BBC and then Discovery Communications in the U.S.
Younge is widely credited with leading a turnaround at the Travel Channel, having introduced the likes of Man v Food and Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations to the world.
He went on to be Chief Creative Officer of then-BBC Productions (now BBC Studios), overseeing a slate of in-house BBC shows including Top Gear, Luther and Strictly Come Dancing.
Most recently, he became a non-exec director of British factual indie Cardiff Productions, stepping back from the day-to-day leadership of the company he founded with Narinder Minhas to focus on collaborations such as the Nutopia deal, while he has been a passionate defender of Channel 4 in the wake of its privatization.
Root’s Nutopia is one of the biggest independent U.S. factual producers, recently behind behemoths including Disney+ trio Welcome to Earth fronted by Will Smith, The World According to Jeff Goldblum and Limitless With Chris Hemsworth.
Younge called Nutopia a “world leader in mega docs,” adding, “Working again with Jane, an inspirational creative leader I know well, is precisely the kind of collaborations I wanted greater freedom to explore.”