Plimsoll Productions reshuffles senior team with new roles for Jonathan Jackson & Lucy Bilson

Jonathan Jackson

ITV Studios-owned Plimsoll Productions has reshuffled its senior team, with promotions for Jonathan Jackson and Lucy Bilson.

Jackson, who joined Plimsoll four years ago and was most recently chief financial officer, becomes COO, while Bilson has been upped from production exec to head of production.

Jackson, who continues to report directly to CEO Grant Mansfield, now oversees the company’s finance, commercial, post- production and legal functions while sitting alongside Mansfield on the Plimsoll/ITV Board.

He has previously held financial roles at BBC Studios, Channel 4 and DRG, where he was COO and group MD. DRG was acquired by Viaplay in 2013 and later rebranded to NENT Studios UK, before being sold to All3Media in 2021.

Bilson, who reports to Jackson, will now supervise Plimsoll’s output and negotiate deals with networks and streamers including Disney+, National Geographic, Apple TV+ and Discovery.

Lucy Bilson

She began at Plimsoll as production manager, overseeing the Camp Zambia monumental joint venture between Blue Ant Media and the Smithsonian Channel that delivered 50 natural-history hours filmed under two years. She was then upped to production executive, working on shows such as Animal for Netflix and Yellowstone Live! for National Geographic.

Mansfield said the duo “combine acute commercial instincts with the ability to work collaboratively and supportively with our brilliant creatives.”

Plimsoll was acquired by ITVS last year in a deal valuing the firm at £131m ($160m). Its slate includes 20 series ranging from National Geographic series’ The Ascent with Alex Honnold and Benedict Cumberbatch-narrated Super/Natural for NatGeo/Disney+, as well as A Year on Planet Earth for Fox and ITV. It has previously been behind The Women Of 9/11 for ABC and Tiny World for Apple TV+.