Patrick Holland

I am the CEO of Banijay UK, a production group that contains the companies responsible for Masterchef, Peaky Blinders, Would I Lie to You, Bear Hunt (Netflix) and Big Brother. Before Banijay, I was the Controller of BBCTwo, the third biggest channel in the UK and was responsible for commissioning shows like Race Across the World, Ambulance, The Responder, Philomena Cunk and Once Upon a Time in Iraq.

I started in TV in my early 20s. After uni I got a job as a trainee researcher in a company specialising in documentaries and we eventually got a commission based on my idea of young people in religious cults. I then went on to work across the independent production sector before landing a job in the documentaries department of the BBC. The boss there gave me my big break and I started directing my own documentary films for BBC, C4 and ITV.

I was the first person in my family to go to university, my mum and dad both left school at 16 without qualifications. Growing up, I used to work on my dad’s market stall, loved reading and putting on plays and learned about the world through TV. I have always felt that working in television is a huge privilege and a massive responsibility. There are very few careers where the work you do can speak to millions of people in the UK and around the world.