January 7, 2022

Oliver Gardner is joining TalkTV as Deputy Head of Studio Output, reporting into Executive Creative Director and Head of Studio Output, Erron Gordon, who joined in September.

Since 2019, Oliver has been the Director of ITV’s RTS award-winning ‘Loose Women’ and has been working across ITV Daytime for nearly 10 years. During his time at Good Morning Britain, Oliver led the coverage of major breaking news stories including the Las Vegas Shootings and the Barcelona Terror attack.

Oliver’s new role will be to assist in the creative direction of programming and channel branding across TalkTV, including set design, on-screen graphics and sonic branding, supporting Erron Gordon – as well as help manage the studio teams and directing programmes in prime time on TalkTV.

Erron Gordon said: “I’m thrilled Ollie has decided to join us at TalkTV as we prepare to launch. Having worked with him in the past I know he’ll bring his excellent attention to detail and creative flare to our output. Ollie is passionate about live television and is the perfect choice to be directing our programmes and helping manage the studio crew as we continue to build a great team of talented creatives and technicians.” 

Executive Editor, TV, for News UK Broadcasting, Winnie Dunbar Nelson said: “Ollie will be a fantastic addition to our team as we continue to hire exceptional new talent to join our schedule of prime time programming, ahead of our launch this year.” 

News UK Broadcasting continues to hire a roster of brilliant off- and on-air talent for TalkTV. Recent weeks have seen the appointment of Vivek Sharma, former Deputy Editor of ITV’s This Morning and Series Editor of Steph’s Packed Lunch on Channel 4, as Executive Producer, News UK Broadcasting, with responsibility for TalkTV’s output. Meanwhile Ben Briscoe has been named Series Editor for the global primetime Piers Morgan show which will air weeknights on TalkTV in the UK, on FOX Nation for US audiences, and on Sky News Australia. Ben was formerly Assistant Editor at Good Morning Britain. Both report to Winnie Dunbar Nelson, Executive Editor, TV for News UK Broadcasting. 

TalkTV will offer a mix of programming. There will be proper news bulletins, sports and entertainment shows, as well as current affairs, debate, opinion and documentaries which call on the expertise of journalists and broadcasters from across News UK’s roster of brands, including talkRADIO, talkSPORT, Virgin Radio UK, Times Radio, The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times. 

The channel will be streamed live and made widely available on all platforms, including linear TV and OTT, with content available across social media as well as News UK’s own broad inventory of websites and apps. Everyone in the UK will be able to access the channel and its programming, live or on-demand, either on their television or on any personal device. 

News UK will continue to hire some exceptional new talent to join a schedule of prime time programming for the evenings and there will be further announcements in the coming weeks.