Claudia Rosencrantz
Encyclopedia
Claudia Rosencrantz is a journalist and was the Controller of Entertainment for ITV
for over ten years, and was responsible for commissioning some of ITV's biggest hits and changing the landscape of entertainment programming in the UK. She was also Director of Television for Virgin Media
for five years.
In December 2005, ITV's Director of Television Simon Shaps testified to Rosencrantz's influence in saying that she "has been responsible for some of the biggest entertainment hits in ITV's history. It's no exaggeration to say that the US networks have watched and waited to see what Claudia has commissioned".
in 1979, where she worked first as a picture editor and then as a journalist
on various publications, including The Telegraph
Sunday Magazine, Sunday magazine and Elle
, before starting her career as a television producer in 1986.
Her production credits include executive producer of Don't Forget Your Toothbrush
, working with Elton John
to produce Tantrums and Tiaras, the drama Prisoners In Time (starring John Hurt
, based on Eric Lomax
's The Railway Man) for the BBC
. She also worked with Barry Humphries
on Dame Edna Everage
's shows as producer for ten years. She was one of the first UK producers to cross the Atlantic, to produce the Dame Edna specials for the US networks.
, Popstars
and Pop Idol
, which changed the fortunes not only of ITV but of two of the biggest US networks, ABC
and Fox TV. Her next generation of entertainment events, I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!
, Hell's Kitchen
, X Factor
and Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
remain some of ITV's highest rated shows. She is credited with moving presenters Ant and Dec from children's television to primetime entertainment double act, and for putting Simon Cowell
on screen.
Rosencrantz was also responsible for running ITV's entertainment talent roster, some of whose careers she launched – a list that included Ant & Dec
, Chris Tarrant
, Michael Parkinson
, Sharon Osbourne
, Lily Savage, Paul O'Grady
, Gordon Ramsay
, Davina McCall
, Simon Cowell
and Harry Hill
.
Before her departure at the end of 2005, she had also commissioned Soapstar Superstar
, Dancing on Ice
, Harry Hill's TV Burp
and Britain's Got Talent
which have all proved highly successful for ITV.
In the official UK top ten most watched TV shows of the last decade, four of the entries are Rosencrantz's commissions.
Television taking over responsibility for the creative strategy for all the channels across the entire portfolio, including LIVING, Bravo, Challenge and Trouble. She launched Virgin 1
in October 2007 and re-positioned Bravo in 2009. She became part of the management team that ran the company.
When Rosencrantz joined Living TV the channel had already broadcast Jade's Salon
, featuring Big Brother 3
contestant Jade Goody
, and was in production with a second series, Just Jade, following Goody as she launched her perfume. Then in the autumn of 2006 came Jade's PA.
However, early in 2007 Goody's appearance on Celebrity Big Brother
led to her being branded a racist for her part in the bullying of fellow contestant Shilpa Shetty
.
By early 2008 Rosencrantz wanted her back on the channel for a one-off special, Living With ... Jade, hoping for a series.
During filming Goody was often doubled up with pain. She had hospital tests, then went off to do Bigg Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother, with Shetty in August 2008. She heard the diagnosis, cervical cancer, on screen.
Living filmed Goody just before she underwent a hysterectomy the following month and planned a series. But the prognosis when she came out was grim, a 10% chance of survival.
"Yes, it was uncomfortable to watch. She was asking people to face their own mortality. It's our biggest fear, but unavoidable, and she has shone a torch into one of the last taboos in our society. She had the courage to make death part of life." Rosencrantz is quoted as saying.
The series of documentaries broadcast leading up to Jade's Wedding, transmitted on 12 March, brought the highest ratings in Livings history.
In 2009 the vmtv portfolio enjoyed its most successful year in its history, and Living was in rude health commercially and creatively, with breakout hits Four Weddings
, Dating in the Dark
and Living With My Idol featuring celebrities including Pamela Anderson
and David Hasselhoff
.
"Can LIVING send me over a rare faberge egg and a truffle in the morning to say thanks for how many people I've forced to watch Four Weddings."
Grace Dent
, Culture Show/The Guardian
on Twitter
In 2010 LIVING picked up the RTS
Award for its breakout hit Dating in the Dark
. It also won the Broadcast Award for Four Weddings
. Living also managed to persuade super model Elle Macpherson
to take over as host on the channels Britain's Next Top Model
She also was responsible for commissioning LIVINGs first original drama Bedlam
starring Will Young
and Theo James
, which has proved a big hit and is going into second series.
In June 2010 Katie Price announced she was leaving ITV
to join LIVING with a raft of programmes.
When Simon Cowell
won the 2010 BAFTA award he told the industry that he wouldn't be there without Rosencrantz.
In 2010 Virgin Media concluded a very long sale process by seeling the portfolio of Virgin channels to Sky for £160,000,000. The Hollywood Reporter Maggie Brown of the Guardian broke the story that Rosencrantz had decided to leave post-integration of the channels as she felt there was no suitable role for her in the new structure at Sky. On Rosencrantz's departure Virgin Chief
Executive was quoted in Media Week as saying:
"Claudia is the real deal. She's made Living a glossy, premium destination for A-list talent and true breakout hits.
She has the courage and critical eye to back an original idea, combined with the clarity and drive to create real commercial success.
Claudia has transformed the channels, and has done so with her trademark package of unerring grace and wicked wit."
of the Royal Television Society
, Chairman of its Programme Awards Committee, and is married to the writer/director Daniel Abineri
, and has one daughter Lola.
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
for over ten years, and was responsible for commissioning some of ITV's biggest hits and changing the landscape of entertainment programming in the UK. She was also Director of Television for Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
for five years.
In December 2005, ITV's Director of Television Simon Shaps testified to Rosencrantz's influence in saying that she "has been responsible for some of the biggest entertainment hits in ITV's history. It's no exaggeration to say that the US networks have watched and waited to see what Claudia has commissioned".
Career
Rosencrantz started her career in Fleet StreetFleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
in 1979, where she worked first as a picture editor and then as a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
on various publications, including The Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
Sunday Magazine, Sunday magazine and Elle
Elle (magazine)
Elle is a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means "she".-History:Elle was founded in...
, before starting her career as a television producer in 1986.
Her production credits include executive producer of Don't Forget Your Toothbrush
Don't Forget Your Toothbrush
Don't Forget Your Toothbrush is a Saturday night light entertainment show originally broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1994, and has also been adapted in Australia, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the United States, the Netherlands and Portugal...
, working with Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
to produce Tantrums and Tiaras, the drama Prisoners In Time (starring John Hurt
John Hurt
John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
, based on Eric Lomax
Eric Lomax
Eric Sutherland Lomax was a British Army officer who was sent to a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in 1942. He is most famous for writing a book, The Railway Man , on his experience before, during, and after the war, which won the 1996 NCR Book Award and the J. R...
's The Railway Man) for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. She also worked with Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
on Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna Everage
Dame Edna is a character created and played by Australian dadaist performer and comedian, Barry Humphries, famous for her lilac-coloured or "wisteria hue" hair and cat eye glasses or "face furniture," her favorite flower, the gladiola and her boisterous greeting: "Hello Possums!" As Dame Edna,...
's shows as producer for ten years. She was one of the first UK producers to cross the Atlantic, to produce the Dame Edna specials for the US networks.
ITV
Rosencrantz joined the ITV Network in 1995 with responsibility for commissioning around 500 hours of prime-time entertainment programming a year, encompassing variety and talk shows, music specials and game shows. Her first major breakthrough hits were Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (UK game show)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a British television quiz show which offers a maximum cash prize of one million pounds for correctly answering successive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty...
, Popstars
Popstars
Popstars is an international reality television franchise and a precursor to the Idol series. The series first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the five member all-girl group TrueBliss...
and Pop Idol
Pop Idol
Pop Idol is a British television series which debuted on ITV on 6 October 2001. The show was a talent contest to decide the best new young pop singer in the United Kingdom, based on viewer voting and participation. Two series were broadcast - one in 2001-02 and a second in 2003...
, which changed the fortunes not only of ITV but of two of the biggest US networks, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
and Fox TV. Her next generation of entertainment events, I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!
I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!
I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here is a reality television game show series in which 8 to 15 celebrities live together in a jungle environment for a few weeks. They have no luxuries, and compete to win a cash prize...
, Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen (UK TV series)
Hell's Kitchen was a British cookery reality show aired on ITV which featured prospective chefs competing with each other for a final prize. Four series had been aired since 2004, three presented by Angus Deayton and the latest by Claudia Winkleman....
, X Factor
The X Factor (UK)
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. Created by Simon Cowell, it began in September 2004 and is contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. It is the originator of the international X Factor franchise. The seven series of the show to date...
and Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
Saturday Night Takeaway
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, is a variety show created by LWT and shown in the UK on Saturday evenings on ITV, presented and executively produced by Ant & Dec. It is broadcast live from The London Studios on the South Bank...
remain some of ITV's highest rated shows. She is credited with moving presenters Ant and Dec from children's television to primetime entertainment double act, and for putting Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...
on screen.
Rosencrantz was also responsible for running ITV's entertainment talent roster, some of whose careers she launched – a list that included Ant & Dec
Ant & Dec
Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly , known collectively as Ant & Dec, are an English comedy and TV presenting duo from Newcastle upon Tyne, England...
, Chris Tarrant
Chris Tarrant
Christopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...
, Michael Parkinson
Michael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...
, Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Rachel Osbourne is an English television host, author, music manager, businesswoman and promoter as well as the wife of heavy metal singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne....
, Lily Savage, Paul O'Grady
Paul O'Grady
Paul James Michael O'Grady MBE is an English comedian, television presenter, actor, writer and radio DJ. He is best known for presenting the daytime chat television series, The Paul O'Grady Show and, more recently, Paul O'Grady Live, as well as his drag queen comedic alter ego, Lily Savage, as...
, Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay
Gordon James Ramsay, OBE is a Scottish chef, television personality and restaurateur. He has been awarded 13 Michelin stars....
, Davina McCall
Davina McCall
Davina McCall is an English television presenter and actress, most notable as the presenter of the UK version of Big Brother up until its move to Channel 5.- Early life :...
, Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...
and Harry Hill
Harry Hill
Harry Hill , is a Perrier Award–winning English comedian, author and television presenter. A former medical doctor , Hill began his career in comedy with the popular radio show Harry Hill's Fruit Corner.-Personal life:Hill was born in Woking,...
.
Before her departure at the end of 2005, she had also commissioned Soapstar Superstar
Soapstar Superstar
Soapstar Superstar was a reality singing competition produced by Granada Television which first aired on British television station ITV in 2006. In the competition, ten soap opera actors perform in front of a celebrity panel, which included Cilla Black, Billy Sammeth and Chris Cowey...
, Dancing on Ice
Dancing on Ice
Dancing on Ice is a British television show co-hosted by Christine Bleakley and Philip Schofield, in which celebrities and their professional partners figure skate in front of a panel of judges. The format, devised by LWT and Granada Television, has been a prime-time hit in eight different...
, Harry Hill's TV Burp
Harry Hill's TV Burp
Harry Hill's TV Burp is a British television comedy programme produced by Avalon Television for ITV and hosted by comedian Harry Hill. The show presents a satirical look at the week's television, including extracts from TV shows with added sketches, observational voice-overs, and guest appearances...
and Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent is a British television talent show competition which started in June 2007 and originated from the Got Talent series. The show is produced by FremantleMedia's TalkbackThames and Simon Cowell's production company SYCOtv. The show is broadcast on ITV in Britain and TV3 in Ireland...
which have all proved highly successful for ITV.
In the official UK top ten most watched TV shows of the last decade, four of the entries are Rosencrantz's commissions.
VMTV
In April 2006 she was appointed director of programming for Living tv, which she re-branded as LIVING, LIVING 2 and ftn. In 2007 she became Director of Television for Virgin MediaVirgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
Television taking over responsibility for the creative strategy for all the channels across the entire portfolio, including LIVING, Bravo, Challenge and Trouble. She launched Virgin 1
Virgin 1
Channel One was a television channel owned and operated by British Sky Broadcasting. The channel was launched on 1 October 2007 at 21:00 on Freeview, Virgin Media and Sky as Virgin1, replacing Ftn...
in October 2007 and re-positioned Bravo in 2009. She became part of the management team that ran the company.
When Rosencrantz joined Living TV the channel had already broadcast Jade's Salon
Jade's Salon
Jade's Salon was Jade Goody's first ever reality show, depicting Jade's opening of her first business "Ugly's". It aired on Living television and was a hit for the channel.Living re-ran the show all weekend due to the death of Goody....
, featuring Big Brother 3
Big Brother 2002 (UK)
Big Brother 3 was the third series of Big Brother UK. The series started on 24 May 2002, ending on 26 July 2002 and the final of this series drew 10.0 million viewers. Votes in the final week totalled 8.6 million...
contestant Jade Goody
Jade Goody
Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody was an English celebrity. She came into the public spotlight while appearing on the third series of the Channel 4 reality TV programme Big Brother in 2002, an appearance which led to her own television programmes and the launch of her own products after her eviction from...
, and was in production with a second series, Just Jade, following Goody as she launched her perfume. Then in the autumn of 2006 came Jade's PA.
However, early in 2007 Goody's appearance on Celebrity Big Brother
Celebrity Big Brother 2007 (UK)
Celebrity Big Brother 2007 was the highly controversial fifth series of the United Kingdom reality television series Celebrity Big Brother, a spin-off of Big Brother. The series was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK , and involved a number of celebrities referred to as 'housemates', who live in the...
led to her being branded a racist for her part in the bullying of fellow contestant Shilpa Shetty
Shilpa Shetty
Shilpa Shetty is an Indian film actress and model. Since making her debut in the film Baazigar , she has appeared in nearly 40 Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films, her first leading role being in the 1994 Aag. Although she has been through years of decline during her career, Shetty has been...
.
By early 2008 Rosencrantz wanted her back on the channel for a one-off special, Living With ... Jade, hoping for a series.
During filming Goody was often doubled up with pain. She had hospital tests, then went off to do Bigg Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother, with Shetty in August 2008. She heard the diagnosis, cervical cancer, on screen.
Living filmed Goody just before she underwent a hysterectomy the following month and planned a series. But the prognosis when she came out was grim, a 10% chance of survival.
"Yes, it was uncomfortable to watch. She was asking people to face their own mortality. It's our biggest fear, but unavoidable, and she has shone a torch into one of the last taboos in our society. She had the courage to make death part of life." Rosencrantz is quoted as saying.
The series of documentaries broadcast leading up to Jade's Wedding, transmitted on 12 March, brought the highest ratings in Livings history.
In 2009 the vmtv portfolio enjoyed its most successful year in its history, and Living was in rude health commercially and creatively, with breakout hits Four Weddings
Four Weddings
Four Weddings is a programme shown on the UK channel, Sky Living. The first series was aired in 2009 with a second series in 2010 and a third in 2011....
, Dating in the Dark
Dating in the Dark
Dating in the Dark is a reality show created in the Netherlands where 3 single men and 3 single women move into a light-tight house getting to know each other and form bonds in total darkness.-International versions:...
and Living With My Idol featuring celebrities including Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress, model, producer, author, activist, and former showgirl, known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch, and V.I.P. She was chosen as a Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in February 1990...
and David Hasselhoff
David Hasselhoff
David Michael Hasselhoff is an American actor, singer, producer and businessman. He is best known for his lead roles as Michael Knight in the popular 1980s US series Knight Rider and as L.A. County Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the series Baywatch...
.
"Can LIVING send me over a rare faberge egg and a truffle in the morning to say thanks for how many people I've forced to watch Four Weddings."
Grace Dent
Grace Dent
Grace Dent is an English journalist, author, and broadcaster. Dent writes mainly for The Guardian, where she has a weekly column on television, 'Grace Dent's TV-OD'. She also writes for magazines such as Tatler and Marie Claire. She writes a restaurant review column for the London Evening...
, Culture Show/The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
In 2010 LIVING picked up the RTS
RTS
RTS is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to:* Real-time strategy, a gaming genre* Reclaim the Streets, an organization* Reformed Theological Seminary, a theological seminary in the United States* Return to Sender...
Award for its breakout hit Dating in the Dark
Dating in the Dark
Dating in the Dark is a reality show created in the Netherlands where 3 single men and 3 single women move into a light-tight house getting to know each other and form bonds in total darkness.-International versions:...
. It also won the Broadcast Award for Four Weddings
Four Weddings
Four Weddings is a programme shown on the UK channel, Sky Living. The first series was aired in 2009 with a second series in 2010 and a third in 2011....
. Living also managed to persuade super model Elle Macpherson
Elle Macpherson
Elle Macpherson is an Australian model, actress, and businesswoman nicknamed "The Body". She is perhaps best known for her record five cover appearances for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue beginning in the 1980s...
to take over as host on the channels Britain's Next Top Model
Britain's Next Top Model
Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model is a British reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of Britain's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modelling industry...
She also was responsible for commissioning LIVINGs first original drama Bedlam
Bedlam
Bedlam may refer to:* Bethlem Royal Hospital, London hospital first to specialise in the mentally ill and origin of the word "bedlam" describing chaos or madness-Places:* Bedlam, North Yorkshire, a village in England...
starring Will Young
Will Young
William Robert "Will" Young is a British singer-songwriter and actor who came to prominenceafter winning the 2002 inaugural series of the British music contest Pop Idol, making him the first winner of the now-worldwide Idols-format franchise...
and Theo James
Theo James
Theo James is an English actor, known for portraying Jed Harper in Bedlam and Kemal Pamuk in Downton Abbey.-Background:James was born in Oxford...
, which has proved a big hit and is going into second series.
In June 2010 Katie Price announced she was leaving ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
to join LIVING with a raft of programmes.
When Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...
won the 2010 BAFTA award he told the industry that he wouldn't be there without Rosencrantz.
In 2010 Virgin Media concluded a very long sale process by seeling the portfolio of Virgin channels to Sky for £160,000,000. The Hollywood Reporter Maggie Brown of the Guardian broke the story that Rosencrantz had decided to leave post-integration of the channels as she felt there was no suitable role for her in the new structure at Sky. On Rosencrantz's departure Virgin Chief
Executive was quoted in Media Week as saying:
"Claudia is the real deal. She's made Living a glossy, premium destination for A-list talent and true breakout hits.
She has the courage and critical eye to back an original idea, combined with the clarity and drive to create real commercial success.
Claudia has transformed the channels, and has done so with her trademark package of unerring grace and wicked wit."
Other
She is FellowFellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
of the Royal Television Society
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
, Chairman of its Programme Awards Committee, and is married to the writer/director Daniel Abineri
Daniel Abineri
Daniel Abineri is an English actor, songwriter and playwright, famous for writing the book, music and lyrics for the controversial musical Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom....
, and has one daughter Lola.