True North Productions

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True North Productions

Company type	Limited
Industry	Television production
Founded	2002; 22 years ago (2002), Leeds, United Kingdom
Founder	Jess Fowle Glyn Middleton Andrew Sheldon
Headquarters	Leeds , United Kingdom
Number of locations	Leeds UK, Manchester UK
Key people	Jess Fowle Andrew Sheldon Fiona O'Sullivan Andrew Lurcuck
Website	truenorth.tv

True North Productions is an independent British television production company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire.^[1] The company creates factual programmes and series in a wide variety of genres, including observational documentary, true crime, current affairs, history, food, property, and children's content. Their programmes have been sold via distributors to broadcasters throughout the world and have been screened in numerous countries, including the United States, Australia, Russia, and Africa.^[2][3][4]

The company was established in 2002 by Jess Fowle, Glyn Middleton and Andrew Sheldon, three producers and directors who had previously worked for Yorkshire Television's documentaries department. They chose the company name as a way of highlighting its northern roots.^[5] After several years based at Yorkshire Television's Kirkstall Road studios, in 2009 the company moved its production base to Marshall's Mill, a converted flax spinning mill in Holbeck, close to Leeds city centre. As well as housing its production teams it also created a dedicated post-production operation, with 21 edit suites (both off-line and on-line) and a standalone dubbing suite.

In 2012, True North expanded its operation across the Pennines to Greater Manchester, with a second office in the Media City, Salford.

In 2014, the company was the first to receive investment from Channel 4's Indie Growth Fund, a £20 million pot of cash designed to support and nurture independent TV production companies in the UK and help them scale up their business. As part of the deal the broadcaster took a minority share in the company. In the same year, co-founder Glyn Middleton departed the business.

In 2017, Channel 4 sold their stake in True North Productions to Sky Vision, whose investment saw them become the majority shareholder in the business. It represented the Indie Growth Funds' first successful exit and deal brought the company into a stable that also includes Love Productions, the maker of The Great British Bake Off.

True North Productions were ranked in the top 5 in "The Prolific North's" Top 50 Independent Production Companies in 2018^[6]