Talkback Productions was formed in 1981 by Mel Smith

Mel Smith

Melvin Kenneth "Mel" Smith is an English comedian, writer, film director, producer, and actor. He is most famous for his work on the sketch comedy shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Griff Rhys Jones.- Early life :Smith's father, Kenneth, was born...

 and Griff Rhys Jones

Griff Rhys Jones

Griffith "Griff" Rhys Jones is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, television presenter and personality. Jones came to national attention in the early 1980s for his work in the BBC television comedy sketch shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Mel Smith...

. The company is one of the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

’s leading production companies and part of the RTL Group

RTL Group

RTL Group is Europe's largest TV, radio and production company, and is majority-owned by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. It has 45 television and 32 radio stations in 11 countries...

, a major European broadcast

Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...

 and content company.

Talkback has a long track record of producing popular shows including Smack the Pony

Smack the Pony

Smack the Pony is a British sketch comedy show that ran from 1999 until 2003 on Channel 4. Its title was intended to sound like a euphemism for female masturbation; the working title was Spot the Pony. The main performers and writers on the show were Fiona Allen, Doon Mackichan and Sally Phillips...

, Green Wing

Green Wing

Green Wing is a British sitcom set in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. It was created by the same team behind the sketch show Smack the Pony, led by Victoria Pile, and stars Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan and Julian Rhind-Tutt....

, Da Ali G Show

Da Ali G Show

Da Ali G Show is the name of two related satirical TV series created by and starring British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and featuring the character Ali G....

, I'm Alan Partridge

I'm Alan Partridge

I'm Alan Partridge is a BBC situation comedy starring Steve Coogan, of which two series of six episodes each were produced — the first in 1997 and the second in 2002...

, QI

QI

QI is a British comedy panel game television quiz show created and co-produced by John Lloyd, hosted by Stephen Fry, and featuring permanent panellist Alan Davies. Most of the questions are extremely obscure, making it unlikely that the correct answer will be given...

, Never Mind the Buzzcocks

Never Mind the Buzzcocks

Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a comedy panel game television show with a pop music theme, currently without a permanent presenter. It stars Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding as team captains. The show is produced by Talkback Thames for the BBC, and is usually aired on BBC Two...

, They Think It's All Over

They Think It's All Over (TV series)

They Think It's All Over was a British comedy panel game with a sporting theme produced by Talkback Thames and shown on BBC One. The show's name is taken from Kenneth Wolstenholme's famous 1966 World Cup commentary quotation, "they think it's all over...it is now!" and the show used the phrase as...

, House Doctor

House Doctor

This article is about the original TV show, The House Doctor which featured Ann Maurice; originally broadcast in the UK the show is now reaching a global audience.For the San Francisco Bay area interior designer known as the "House Doctor", see Lisa Quinn...

and The Apprentice.

Past credits include shows such as Alas Smith and Jones

Alas Smith and Jones

Alas Smith and Jones is a British comedy sketch television series featuring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. It was broadcast on the BBC from 1984 to 1998...

, Murder Most Horrid

Murder Most Horrid

Murder Most Horrid is a BBC dark comedy anthology series starring comedian Dawn French. It ran for four series runs, in 1991, 1994, 1996 and 1999....

, The Day Today

The Day Today

The Day Today is a surreal British parody of television current affairs programmes, broadcast in 1994, and created by the comedians Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris. It is an adaptation of the radio programme On the Hour, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992...

, The Eleven O'Clock Show

The Eleven O'Clock Show

The 11 O'Clock Show was a satirical late-night British television comedy series on Channel 4, which featured topical sketches and commentary on news items.The series ran from 1998 to 2000, most notably while hosted by Iain Lee and Daisy Donovan...

, and Big Train

Big Train

Big Train is a surreal British television comedy sketch show created by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan, writers of the successful sitcom Father Ted...

.

In 2003, the company was sold to Thames Television

Thames Television

Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....

's owner FremantleMedia

FremantleMedia

FremantleMedia, Ltd. is the content and production division of Bertelsmann's RTL Group, Europe's second largest TV, radio, and production company...

 for £62 million. It was later merged with Thames, and the combined entity was re-named Talkback Thames.

However in November 2011 it was announced that from 1 January 2012 the Talkback brand will be used again as Talkback Thames is split into four different brands; Talkback, Thames, Boundless and Retort.