Melanie Leach And Andrew MacKenzie To Set Up South Shore

Melanie Leach, CEO Twofour and Andrew MacKenzie, CCO, are in the concluding phase of talks that will see ITV Studios take a minority stake in their new company, South Shore.

South Shore's output will span documentary, popular factual and entertainment. The exact date of launch for the company will be confirmed with Melanie and Andrew remaining at the helm of Twofour until then. Twofour CFO and COO Anthony Hughes will also join them at South Shore.

Melanie and Andrew's award-winning partnership at Twofour has led to hits including the Emmy award winning Educating series, The Jump and Sink or Swim on Channel 4; ITV’s This Time Next Year and Ibiza Weekender, Channel 5's longest running show Hotel Inspector and the BBC's The Real Marigold Hotel. Under their leadership Twofour has twice been named Broadcast's Indie of the Year.

Acquired in 2015 by ITV Studios, Twofour has a regional base in Plymouth and a base in Cardiff.

Melanie and Andrew said: "We've enjoyed every moment of growing Twofour into the brilliant brand that it is today. Now feels like the natural point to hand the company onto a new team and we’re leaving it in great hands. We’re very excited to be working with Julian and ITV Studios again as we embark on our next adventure."

Managing Director of award-winning label MultiStory Media, Tim Carter, will take on a newly created role which will place him at the helm of Twofour and MultiStory. Both labels will retain their separate identities and existing teams.

Carter will work with Twofour's senior creative team - Dan Adamson (The Hotel Inspector, Beat the Chef); David Clews (BAFTA award-winning Educating series; Real Marigold Hotel; Ibiza Weekender); Rachel Innes-Lumsden (Save Money: Lose Weight, Matt Allright’s Housing Scandal) and Sam Grace at Boomerang (Extreme Cake Makers) - along with Shireen Abbott (production and operations) and Jake Roberts (finance).