Management Team

Lorraine Heggessey

Chief Executive Officer, talkbackTHAMES

Lorraine Heggessey is the Chief Executive Officer of talkbackTHAMES, the UK production company owned by FremantleMedia.

In this role she oversees all of talkbackTHAMES production output, development and strategic development. She is a member of the FremantleMedia Operating Board.

Prior to this role, she was the first female Controller of BBC ONE, a position she took up in October 2000, where she oversaw the channel’s re-branding, and a comprehensive shake-up of its schedule, with particular emphasis on new drama.

During her controllership, BBC ONE became the biggest investor in comedy, with new shows such as My Family and All About Me. Innovation was at the heart of her strategy for the channel with cutting-edge technology used in programmes such as Test the Nation, Pompeii: The Last Day and Space Odyssey.

Heggessey has a long track record in making current affairs and popular factual programmes for the BBC, ITV and Channel Four, as well as in the independent sector. She has worked as a producer on Panorama and ITV’s This Week.

In October 1999, she became BBC Production’s Director of Programmes and Deputy Chief Executive, where she led the creation and development of output across all genres and all media.

In October 1997, Heggessey was appointed Head of BBC Children’s, where she revitalised the department and portfolio and launched 17 new shows.

She started her career as a graduate trainee on local newspapers for Westminster Press after graduating from Durham University with a degree in English Language and Literature.