Tuesday’s Child makes first M&A move with deal for Greenbird’s Interstellar

Lego Masters (UK)

Lego Masters and The Hit List producer Tuesday’s Child has moved into the M&A game by acquiring a controlling stake in UK-based Interstellar, the Greenbird-backed outfit behind Singletown for ITV2.

Interstellar was founded two years ago by MD David Williams and creative director Jamie Ormerod, when Israeli media group Keshet restructured its UK operations by splitting the scripted and unscripted operations of Keshet Productions in two.

David Williams

Keshet Productions’ unscripted interests were re-launched under Interstellar, which was then housed under the umbrella of prodco incubator Greenbird, in which Keshet International took full ownership of in 2018. Buyers are understood to have been circling Greenbird over recent months, as revealed by TBI at MIPCOM.

The Interstellar deal will see Williams and Ormerod working with Tuesday Child’s founder and CEO Karen Smith to expand in the UK and globally. Financial details have not been revealed.

Interstellar focuses on entertainment, reality and popular factual formats, with a slate that includes Question Team for Dave and Show Me The Honey! for CBBC. The deal will also see Tuesday’s Child will also provide access to its production bases in London, Glasgow and Cardiff.

The company also produces social media-first content for brands such as Channel 4, Instagram and Lucozade, while “an innovative multi-platform relationship series” is in the works for a broadcaster, while an animated comedy format is in advanced development.

Jamie Ormerod

Smith said: “We share a vision for high quality, high energy content and I look forward to welcoming them to the Tuesday’s Child family and achieving even greater success in the coming years.”

Williams and Ormerod added: “We’ve long admired everything that Karen and her team at Tuesday’s Child have achieved. Having worked with Karen on a number of projects over the years, we know it will be a great fit and the start of an exciting next chapter for Interstellar.

“With a growing slate of original formats, now is the perfect time for us to propel the company forward and Karen’s passion and expertise will be invaluable in helping us do just that.”

Tuesday’s Child Television was launched in 2012 by Strictly Come Dancing co-creator Smith, who was previously Shine TV joint-CEO. Creative director, Steph Harris, joined shortly after.