TIME & LOCATION
About
Chair
SPONSOR
Panel
Senior Executive Producer, BBC Studios Documentary Unit
James W. Newton is a double BAFTA-nominated documentary director and Senior Executive Producer at BBC Studios Documentary Unit, specialising in ambitious, access-led factual storytelling. He directed the new Channel 4 series The Murder Detective, which follows the Police Service of Northern Ireland's investigation into the murder of journalist Lyra McKee. His credits include the BAFTA-nominated Evacuation, an acclaimed three-part series documenting the British military's evacuation from Kabul, Baby Surgeons: Delivering Miracles, for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Factual Director, and Super Surgeons: A Chance at Life, which pioneered an innovative brand-funded documentary model with Macmillan Cancer Support. His work spans crime, medicine and defence, combining unprecedented institutional access with compelling, character-driven storytelling.
Producer Director, Walk on Air
Sian McIlwaine is a BAFTA nominated Producer/ Director who specialises in documentaries about complex personal stories which try and make sense of our world today. She was a Producer/Director on Once Upon A Time in Northern Ireland and was selected to take part in the BBC’s prestigious New Directors Initiative. Sian went on to produce and direct Our War: 10 years on. She has most recently directed a 90-minute feature documentary for BBC Two and BBC NI; Prison Break: Escape from the Maze.
Senior Broadcast Journalist at BBC
Tara Mills is the presenter of the BBC’s flagship news programme in Northern Ireland, BBC Newsline. A multi award-winning broadcaster and journalist, she worked as a reporter on the programme for 15 years. Last year, with Delcan Harvey, she launched the BBC NI news podcast The State of Us. Tara has also presented several documentaries for BBC Spotlight including I Am Not Okay which featured four mums on their lives with their autistic sons. It won an Royal Television Society Award and several other accolades. This year she presented a Radio 4 documentary WhatsApp Underground on the aftermath of the race riots in Belfast.
BBC Editorial Policy
Lynne Jones is a senior adviser in Editorial Policy at the BBC. She specialises in advising independent production companies who are making factual programmes for the BBC. The content ranges from blue flashing light brands and competitive formats to impactful singles, Current Affairs docs and YouTube films and formats. Before this she spent 25 years as a BBC journalist and Executive Producer
Executive Producer, Rare TV
Edward Hart is an Executive Producer with over twenty years’ experience in unscripted television. For the last decade he has focused on producing content from Northern Ireland for UK network and international broadcasters. He runs Rare TV’s Belfast office, from where credits include BBC series such as Digging for Britain (12 seasons), Expert Witness (4 seasons) and Mountain Vets (3 seasons). Edward also heads Rare TV’s office in Dublin, from where he has made numerous series and specials for US and European broadcasters, and currently execs Crimecall (8 seasons for RTE) and The Case I Can’t Forget (5 series for RTE and BBC).