It’s a new production company with the energy, enthusiasm and dedication of a start-up. But it’s shot through with the pedigree, values and tenacity of programme-makers with a track record making award-winning British and international documentaries.
WINGSPAN’S wingspan extends to history, science, arts, religion, current affairs, popular factual, celebrity travelogue, observational documentary and formatted factual entertainment. WINGSPAN is dedicated to rigorous journalism, clear, sharp story-telling and entertaining, witty and accessible treatment of its subject matter.
WINGSPAN was founded in December 2008 by Archie Baron, who co-ran Takeaway Media for 10 years and had previously been an in-house BBC producer/director and series producer.
16th May, 2009 and subsequently shown on BBC Two. Wingspan’s three-part series Getting Our Way about the history of British diplomacy, presented by Sir Christopher Meyer, was first broadcast in February 2010.
We are currently in production with two major projects to air in the UK in Autumn 2010. The Do-Gooders is a three-part history series presented by Ian Hislop for BBC2 about 19th Century British reformers. We are also making an innovative film for the BBC’s World of Wonder year of Science – more details coming soon.
Archie is an award-winning film-maker and executive producer fortunate enough to have worked on some of the most challenging, successful and respected documentaries of the last twenty years. Whether leading large teams, directing films himself or exec-ing other directors, Archie has a reputation for total commitment, intellectual rigour and creative flair.
Archie read History at Oxford and joined the BBC in 1986 as a Graduate Production Trainee and was a Producer in BBC Documentaries & History until 1998. He won the 1996 RTS Arts Award, 4 international prizes and received two BAFTA nominations for his film The Homecoming - a feature-length observational documentary for BBC1 on the return to Russia of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The Times wrote, "I salute Archie Baron for a piece of work fit to put before the judges at every television festival on the planet. And I dare them to place it second. It was superb television… a programme so delicious, so close to the perfect manifestation of television’s whole point, that you could hug the set".
Other producer/director credits while Archie was at the BBC include two episodes of the panoramic story of the 20th Century, People's Century (Peabody Award, voted one of the
documentaries of all time) and films for Inside Story and Timewatch. He produced and series-produced the acclaimed BBC2 series on McCarthyism, The Un-Americans. He directed two films in Nick Barker's series Washes Whiter on the history of television advertising in Britain. He directed Ian Hislop’s search for his family history in the BAFTA nominated, Broadcast Award winning first series of Who Do You Think You Are? one of the highest rated documentaries of 2004.
Archie's versatility is revealed by some of his other broadcasting achievements: co-originating the idea for Have I Got News For You? and securing its commission in its pre-Hat-Trick development phase (and then showing little business savvy by telling his bosses he didn't want to work on a quiz show but that he knew some people who did...). Archie also produced daily current affairs for Newsnight, and studio directed and produced for, amongst others, Did You See..? and Barry Norman's Film Programme. From 1995 to 2008 Archie was joint-MD of Takeaway Media (www.takeawaymedia.com) the company he founded with Neil Cameron, initially to make the BBC2 rapid reaction history series Leviathan. This had begun life on BBC Radio 4 before transferring to BBC2 for three successful eight-part series (for all of which Archie was Series Editor, the first two jointly
with Neil). Since 1999 Archie has also been involved in
one capacity or another in its UK Confidential programmes, based on the state papers released annually at the National Archives.
Archie was director of Takeaway’s pioneering, feature-length BBC2 documentary Motherland – A Genetic Journey, which won the RTS Science and Natural History Award 2004 and the One World Media Award where it was cited for its “outstanding contribution to greater world understanding”. Greg Dyke, then the BBC DG, said of Motherland:“I was astounded by the programme. It is one of the most remarkable programmes I have seen in recent years. It is revelatory, it is emotional, there are moments of complete surprise… I sat there with tears in my eyes in parts. I would say this to the producers…you should be proud of what you have produced. It is something special.”
Archie’s most recent credit as director was for Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights for BBC1, one of the highest-rated documentaries of 2008. Another recent success was Ian Hislop Goes Off The Rails, which Archie co-execed with Neil. It was the second highest rated programme in BBC4’s history and has now been seen by more than 4 million
Archie co-devised and was Series Editor for Takeaway’s Balderdash & Piffle series 1 (7 x 60’ BBC2 2006) and Exec for series 2 (8 x 30’ BBC2 2007), managing large teams and many celebrity presenters on very tight budgets and schedules in an innovative partnership with the Oxford English Dictionary. Etymology was perhaps not the most obvious way to reach 3m + viewers at 9pm on BBC2. But Archie is especially proud of the fact that, thanks to Balderdash & Piffle, 69 entries in the OED have been revised.
Archie wrote the book An Indian Affair – From Riches to Raj a
history of the relationship between Britain and India before the
Indian Mutiny, which accompanied the Takeaway series.
He lives in North London with his wife, two children, a wire-haired fox terrier and two guinea pigs.
Jayne has worked freelance in television since 1982 for a number of independent production companies including the International Broadcasting Trust, Bandung Productions, Hindi Picture, Wall to Wall, Brook Associates, Films of Record, Darlow Smithson, Steve Boulton Productions, Wild Pictures, David Modell Ltd, and Snapper Television. She worked part time at Takeaway Media for over 7 years as HoP.
She has spent time filming abroad as well as in studios, managing various production teams, handling business affairs and international co-productions. Credits include The Churchills, The Last of the Czars, The Last Europeans, Timewatch (x4) (Phillip Whitehead, Brook Associates), Family Therapy (Udi Eichler, Brook Associates), Police 2001 (Roger Graef, Films of Record), and various Dispatches.
Muffin is Jayne’s beautiful chocolate Labrador who has her own space in the office. She welcomes all new staff and visitors, particularly at lunch-time. Few meetings at Wingspan are quorate without Muffin, though she does have a tendency to sleep through long editorial discussions.
Muffin takes her HR skills into the community. She freelances as a qualified Pets as Therapy dog visiting old people’s homes and helping dog-phobic children overcome their fears.
Nick studied Broadcasting at Falmouth College of Arts, graduating in 2006. His first job in television was as an Audience Runner on Fortune for Fever Media. He first worked at Takeaway Media on Balderdash & Piffle Series 2 and Ian Hislop's Scouting for Boys.
At Bellwether Media he worked across a range of programmes for Discovery and the BBC including Savile Row and The Mystery of the Gold Mask. He was also a Production Aide on Vivere: Andrea Bocelli Live in Tuscany for Thirteen/WNET.
