Sanjay Singhal Leaves Dragonfly, Simon Dickson Becomes Managing Director
5th Nov 2012
Dragonfly Film and Television today announced that Managing Director Sanjay Singhal is leaving the company with Creative Director Simon Dickson succeeding him as Managing Director.
Singhal, who after five years leaves to start a new independent production company, will first fulfil any outstanding executive producer commitments and undertake a handover to Dickson for the remainder of the year. Singhal originally joined Dragonfly as Creative Director in 2007 before becoming Managing Director in 2009.
Dickson joined the BAFTA-winning factual company over a year ago from his role as Deputy Head of Documentaries at Channel 4. Whilst at Channel 4, Dickson commissioned and executive produced Dragonfly hits One Born Every Minute and The Hotel.
Dragonfly Chief Operating Officer Steve Nam has also chosen to depart the company at this juncture. He remains until mid-2013 to aid the management transfer and to work with Dickson in both recruiting and handing over to a new COO.
Jane Featherstone, Joint Chairman Shine UK said: “I’d like to thank both Sanjay and Steve for their contribution to Dragonfly over the last few years. It is a company in great health, brimming creatively, and robust commercially and they leave for their next challenges with our best wishes. Simon was already well known to Dragonfly from his previous role at Channel 4; he has been an integral part of recent successes since joining and is ideally placed to take Dragonfly forward as Managing Director.”
Simon Dickson said: “I’m delighted to have been appointed Dragonfly’s new MD at this key point in the company’s evolution. As well as being truly inspiring and supportive colleagues, Sanjay and Steve took Dragonfly to new heights creatively and commercially. The team and I are looking forward to building on their achievements and we wish them the very best of luck with their next adventures.”
Sanjay Singhal said: “It has been a privilege to lead Dragonfly over the past three years. I’ve enjoyed the chance to work with some of the finest and most promising talent in factual TV and am very proud of the quality and ambition of the films we made along the way. There’s a first class team at Dragonfly and under Simon’s creative leadership they will go from strength to strength.”
Dragonfly recently delivered the high profile The Plane Crash, whose 3.5 million viewers for Channel 4 made it the most watched show in the 9pm slot that day, and Terror at Sea:The Sinking of the Concordia, which attracted 3.4 million viewers on its premiere for Channel 4 before being broadcast across 20 further territories. Upcoming series include The Estate–We Call It Home for BBC3 and What Happens in Kavos for Channel 4, alongside popular returning ‘fixed rig’ formats the BAFTA-winning One Born Every Minute and The Hotel, also Channel 4. In all, the company has to date produced more than two hundred hours of television for channels including BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4, Channel Four, Channel 5, National Geographic, Discovery, Sky1 HD and Sky Living HD, with programmes sold or re-versioned in more than 50 countries worldwide. Dragonfly became part of Shine Group in 2007.