Robert Thirkell is the TV Troubleshooter with a proven track record in making hit TV documentaries and formats
Since leaving the BBC in 2003 he has specialized in helping broadcasters and production companies, in the UK and abroad, to create documentary formats, oversee new brands, and sort out problem series, as a creative consultant, series editor, and troubleshooter, always applying the strong narrative storytelling for which he is renowned.
He started in the BBC pushing trolleys of film, and took years to persuade anyone he could be a researcher. Luckily the first series he directed, Troubleshooter, won the BAFTA for originality. As a result he was able to create and build business documentaries on the BBC, making them into the most successful in the world, and making a raft of original and popular formats. He went on to win the first two BAFTAs in the new formatted features category for the series Back to the Floor and Blood on the Carpet which created the modern formatted revolution.
More recently Robert was Series Editor of Jamie's School Dinners, winning another BAFTA, and troubleshooter for The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off which won the International Emmy. His latest series When Big Chef Little Chef has been a hit of 2009, creating a new chef superstar in Heston Blumenthal. Robert is currently working on numerous series for UK broadcasters and production companies, as well as consulting around the world, and giving his acclaimed CONFLICT factual storytelling masterclasses.
As a result of his work Robert was voted Britain's number one television producer in Broadcast magazines annual list of the hottest 100 people in British television