Meet the Commissioners

Emma Loach is the BBC's Interim Head of Documentary Commissioning, responsible for all  documentary output across the BBC's channels. 

Recent credits include The Mother of All Cons; Atomic People; Backlash: The Murder of  George Floyd; Forensics; Sarah Everard: The Search for Justice; The Search for Nicola Bulley;  Rose Ayling-Ellis: Old Hands, New Tricks; The Real Mo Farah; Parole; The Met; Christine  McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism; Louis Theroux's Forbidden America; Gods of Snooker; and Black Power. 

Before joining the BBC, Emma worked as an executive producer across a diverse range of  series and singles. She was instrumental in originating and delivering the Ambulance brand  for BBC One and The Trial for Channel 4.

Harjeet Chhokar is a Sr. Unscripted Creative Executive at Amazon MGM Studios, where he works across the factual slate and on shows such as Clarkson's Farm, The Grand Tour, Kaleb Down Under and the award winning sports documentaries and true crime slate. Prior to joining Amazon MGM Studios, Harjeet was a Commissioning Editor in the Channel 4 Factual department, and commissioned a number of factual shows, including Murder Island, Sex Actually with Alice Levine and 999: On the Frontline. Before entering the world of commissioning, Harjeet worked in unscripted production for over 17 years; starting his career as a BBC Production Trainee and working his way up to Series Producer.

Harjeet is a passionate advocate for the powerful impact television can have on viewers' lives and the cultural fabric of the country; he is committed to mentoring and supporting junior members of the industry. He is currently a Trustee at the Grierson Trust and The TV Foundation, and was the Advisory Chair of the 2024 Edinburgh TV Festival.

Helen Nightingale is Head of Factual and Factual Entertainment Commissioning at UKTV, where she has played a key role in shaping the unscripted strategy across U&Dave, U&W, U&Yesterday and U&Gold. Since joining in 2015, her commissions have included titles such as Emma Willis: Delivering Babies, Gemma and Gorka: Life Behind The Lens, and more recently, Guy Martin Proper Jobs and the award-winning Pete Wicks for Dogs’ Sake. Helen previously held senior roles at Gogglebox Entertainment and IWC Media.

As ITV Factual Controller Jo's commissions include: BAFTA-winning Long Lost Family/Born Without Trace & Ellie Simmonds Finding My Secret Family. Award winning Kate Garraway: Finding Derek; 7 up (56 & 63); Prince William: We Can End Homelessness; The Queen’s Green Planet; Paul O’Grady: For The Love Of Dogs. Joanna Lumley & Trevor McDonald authored series; TikTok: Murder Gone Viral & The Undercover Police Scandal: Love and Lies Exposed.

At the BBC, Jo was Head of Independent Commissioning & Commissions including Masterchef & Hairy Bikers. Jo Directed & Produced BBC One's 7-part award winning documentary series 'Making Babies' & 'The Shop' about Selfridges, plus single docs for award winning strand 40 Minutes & Inside Story. Cut (long) teeth on Newsnight, Crimewatch etc.

Since joining BBC Drama in 2018, Jo has worked on many projects including I May Destroy You by Michaela Coel, US by David Nichols, The North Water by Andrew Haigh and returners such as Sherwood, Silent Witness and Waterloo Road. Upcoming projects include Dear England, the new series of Peaky Blinders and Sherwood, Ministry of Time and Michaela Coel's new project. Jo joined BBC Drama from Seven Stories TV where she was Creative Director and Executive Producer on Selection Day for Netflix. Prior to that, she was Executive Producer at Sky, where she oversaw many projects, such as The Tunnel series 1 and 2 and The Last Panthers. Before Sky, Jo spent nine years at Film4 in Development on films such as Submarine by Richard Ayoade and Attack The Block by Joe Cornish and as the New Talent Executive and Executive Producer for short films such as BAFTA-winners Pitch Black Heist and Dog Altogether. 

Kit Morey has been a (VP) Commissioner Editor in Unscripted at Channel 5/ Paramount since 2019, originating and commissioning hundreds of hours of original prime time content including talent led series: Sam & Ade Go Birding, Barts: Our Hospital Through Time with Prof. Alice Robert, Wonders of The Human Body with Micheal Moseley, Motorhoming with Merton & Webster, Lost Dogs with Clare Balding, Tom Read-Wilson’s Grand Tour, Ben Fogle: Make a New Life in The Country, and Sally Lindsay’s Posh Sleepover. 

Million Pound Motorhomes, Ambulance Code Red, Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly, Rich House Poor House, The Hotel Inspector, The Yorkshire Vet and Springtime on The Farm are a selection of their high-volume, returnable commissions.

They’ve also ordered dozens of access doc series including The Hospital: Life on The Line, Inside The Hilton, Kensington Palace: Behind Closed Doors, Platoon, and poppy one offs: Britain’s Poshest Farm Shop, Britain Best Service Station, Inside Gails: Britain Poshest Bakery, Worlds Most Luxurious Retirement Home…not to mention RTS Winning Best Features series for Air Fryers! 

Before Commissioning at 5, Morey was Head of Popular Factual at Rise Films, developing  Channel 4’s noisy social experience series, Meat The family and have held many Executive Producer roles:  ITV’s Real Full Monty, C4’s One Born Every Minute, Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners and the first series of First Dates.

Lizzi Doyle is the Assistant Commissioner for Podcasts at BBC 5 Live and BBC Sounds, specialising in sport. She is a multi-award-winning producer, known for her work on “The Wayne Rooney Show”, “Jill Scott’s Coffee Club,” “The Tooney & Russo Show,” and “Football Daily.” Her journey began at Radio City in Liverpool, where she became the station's first-ever female sport producer. She later joined “The Anfield Wrap,” Liverpool’s iconic fan podcast, which led to appearances on the BBC, Sky Sports, and Premier League.

Lucy is a Commissioning Editor at 5 where she looks after a wide-ranging factual slate including documentaries, popular factual and history. She has been responsible for commissioning a number of the channel's peak-time programmes, including Warship: Life at Sea; Inside the Tower of London as well as the stripped history event The Great Plague and The Disappearance of Shannon Matthews.

Lucy was also behind the major eight-part drama documentary series Eight Days That Made Rome; Diana: Seven Days That Shook The Windsor’s; and the Cotswolds with Pam Ayres. Lucy also commissioned Secrets of Our Universe with Tim Peake, fronted by the British astronaut.

Lucy has worked extensively with diverse talent in front of and behind the camera, brining JJ Chalmers, Raksha Dave and Onyeka Nubia to the channel.

Before moving to 5 Lucy was at Raw Television for eight years where she became Head of UK Factual and Multiplatform and won a number of awards including two International Emmys.

As Head of Comedy at ITV, Nana has rejuvenated ITV Comedy with award-winning and award-worthy shows for ITV and ITVX, including Changing Ends, G'wed, The Dry, Transaction, Piglets, Deep Fake Neighbour Wars, Count Abdulla, and Significant Other. Prior to joining ITV, she was Head of Comedy at Talkback Thames and Head of Development at Retort, where she executive produced the award-winning Chewing Gum Series 1 & 2. Nana is a BAFTA, RTS, and Broadcast award-winning comedy executive producer.

Paula Thomas is a Commissioning Editor at ITV, looking after Daytime and Ad-Funded Entertainment. She is responsible for over 1,300 hours of television a year, nearly 900 of which are broadcast live.

As the lead commissioner for Ad-Funded Entertainment, Paula’s slate continues to grow; with 13 titles and 380 hours of branded content already commissioned for 2026 across the ITV schedule.

Alongside the team, notable credits include Cooking with the Stars (M&S) - ITV’s most successful ad-funded show to date - Tom Kerridge Cooks Britain (M&S), Style the Nation (M&S), Be Your Own Boss (Royal Mail), Sara Davies’ Christmas Craft Off (Amazon) and the ‘Taste of’ brand for weekend mornings.

Paul Testar joined Paramount in January 2022 as 5’s first dedicated drama commissioner and has helped oversee the major expansion of 5’s scripted slate, working alongside Head of Scripted Sebastian Cardwell to establish 5 as a major home of original British drama.

Since joining Paramount, Testar has commissioned over one hundred and fifty hours of drama series including Ellis, Murder Before Evensong, The Crow Girl and 5’s revival of the iconic Play For Today format. 

Before joining Paramount, Testar was a producer for Mammoth Screen with credits including The Serpent (BBC1/Netflix) and The Tower (ITV). He began his career as a script editor on numerous shows for the BBC, ITV, Netflix, Amazon and Channel 4.