Zenith Entertainment Goes Into Administrative Receivership

Zenith Entertainment, one of the UK's longest established independent TV producers, has gone into administrative receivership.
Zenith North, the subsidiary that is working on a final series of long-running BBC children's drama Byker Grove for this autumn, has not entered insolvency proceedings and is continuing to trade.
PricewaterhouseCoopers business recovery specialists David Blenkarn and Karen Dukes were appointed joint administrative receivers of Zenith Entertainment and joint liquidators of Zenith Productions last week.
Unique Communications, the independent producer founded by Noel Edmonds is understood to have been on the verge of buying Zenith as a going concern, including Blaze and Zenith North, before the company was put into administration.
Unique is said to have been in talks with Zenith, through its adviser, PwC, since May and was expecting to sign a deal to buy the firm earlier this month.
Zenith Entertainment is continuing to trade while PwC seeks a buyer for its remaining assets. The company is believed to have an annual turnover of around £14m.
As well as losing the long-running Byker Grove commission and ITV1 Saturday morning music show CD:UK, Zenith was dealt a fatal blow with the axing of BBC 1 cop drama '55 Degrees North' after two series.
The company's credits include 'Inspector Morse', 'Hamish Macbeth' and '2000 Acres of Sky'.
(DS/SP)