News

Richard Bond is to take up a newly created role of Creative Director, Factual Drama for Banijay UK following 8 years leading Dragonfly.

The new role will be focused on building a slate of factual drama commissions, working with scripted labels across the group to develop and produce scripted projects based on real life events.

A new scripted series developed by Richard in partnership with drama label The Forge is already in funded development with a major broadcaster.

Richard has a strong track record in this area. He was responsible for Then Barbara Met Alan (BBC/Netflix) written by Jack Thorne and Genevive Barr, which told the story of disability rights activists Barbara Lisicki and Alan Holdsworth, and their unprecedented campaign of direct action. The film won the Broadcast Award for Best Single Drama in 2023 and a Banff/Rockie Award for Best Feature Length Film.

Before joining Dragonfly, Richard was Executive Producer on several factually inspired dramas written by Ben Chanan for Channel 4, including Blackout, The People Next Door, and the Maisie Williams fronted Cyberbully, which picked up a BAFTA nomination and won the Prix Italia: Best Drama.

Richard Bond said, “I’ve absolutely loved running Dragonfly and will dearly miss all the staff and freelancers who work so hard to make it such a brilliant company.  But my passion is telling true stories in the most impactful, creative way possible, and audiences are increasingly hungry for factual drama, so having already had the pleasure of working with incredible writers like Jack Thorne, Genevieve Barr and Ben Chanan in this genre, the prospect of collaborating with Banijay’s best-in-class scripted labels to bring more of these projects to fruition is a dream come true”.

The leadership of Dragonfly will be taken over by Ros Ponder, Will Rowsonand Alison Seymour. Ros and Will become Co-Creative Directors (promoted from Director of Programmes and Creative Director Dragonfly North respectively) leading on creative delivery and direction and Director of Production Alison Seymour will become Director of Production and Operations and will lead on commercial strategy. They will report to Banijay UK CEO Patrick Holland.

Patrick Holland said;

“Richard is a fantastic leader, and the team have won numerous awards under his direction and have been responsible for some of the biggest documentary brands on television. He has always had a passion for factual drama and is the perfect creative leader to galvanize ideas in this growing market.

Ros, Will and Ali are a formidable senior team, and I have every confidence that they will continue to grow Dragonfly. Premium documentary remains a strategic priority to the business and Dragonfly is a leading brand in this area.”

During Richard’s time at Dragonfly, he has been responsible for growing an impressive slate of over 200 hours of successful shows including Ambulance (BBC One) and Surgeons At the Edge of Life (BBC Two), which are both consistently amongst the highest rated documentary series across the BBC, alongside impactful singles and feature docs including  My Dad The Peace Deal and Me (BBC Two), and  Forced Out (Sky), which both picked up BAFTA nominations.

Under his tenure the business has seen both commercial success, with turnover and operating profit doubling in size, and critical acclaim, winning multiple awards including two BAFTAs, two Broadcast Awards, several RTS awards, and a Grierson.  Dragonfly has been consistently recognized by Broadcast as a “Best Place to Work” in their annual survey, ranking in the top 10 every year of his leadership, and taking the no.1 spot in 2019.

Ros Ponder joined Dragonfly in 2018 and as Director of Programmes has worked on its biggest brands including Surgeons At the Edge of Life, Face Doctors, Date My Mate and Cops Like Us.

Will Rowson joined Dragonfly in 2023 from Channel 4 where he was a commissioner for documentaries responsible for shows including Night Coppers, George Michael Outed, Killed by a Rich Kid and Top Guns: Inside the RAF.

Alison Seymour joined the business in 2018 as Head of Production, becoming Director of Production in 2022. She works closely with Managing Director Richard Bond on the day to day running of the business, including overseeing commercial and operational aspects.

Richard will take up his new role in June and report to Banijay UK CEO Patrick Holland.