Positive Psychology Science of Happiness
Creative Direction & Communications
RADIO & AUDIO
The spoken word is immensely powerful. One of my dreams as a child was to work for BBC Radio 4. The dream came true! My first proper job was at the BBC's World Service in Bush House. I later returned with Terry Waite, for whom it was a ray of light during his years of captivity. I took Terry to Bush House for Radio 4's Down Your Way.
I became a producer at LBC Radio and then moved to Bristol to produce BBC Radio 4's Punters. I won a Sony Gold Award for an investigation into the Kegworth air crash and the Medical Journalists' Gold Award for another one on synthetic forms of insulin.
Travel features became one of my specialities at BBC Radio 4. Highlights included exploring the lives of New Europeans, taking Ronnie Scott back to the jazz clubs of New York for Sentimental Journey with Arthur Smith, experiencing Alaska at 40 degrees below during the Off Season and getting a taste for Italian coffee in Cafe Days with Simon Parkes.
Of the documentaries I made for Radio 4 was an epiphany for me. In 1996 I made a programme on how to be happy. At the time there was very little research available on the science of well-being and Don't Worry Be Happy was one of the first programmes on what is now positive psychology. Happiness is the subject I now research, write about and teach.
My most recent audio project is a self-help CD The Happiness Training Plan.
TELEVISION
I have created programmes for BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4, BBC3 and BBC4. I have a speciality in factual formats and devised BBC1's primetime Smart Spenders, Too Close For Comfort and Garden SOS and BBC2's British Style Genius.
I've produced social history documentaries for ITV1 and Channel 4 including Some Liked It Hot, a history of travel fashion for ITV1 which won the highest ratings for a TV history series in 2002. My first major commission from Channel 4 was Far Out, The Dawning of New Age Britain - a groundbreaking series on the pioneers of alternative living. Far Out won the Best History prize at the San Francisco Film Festival and caught the eye of Martin Scorsese.
The programme that had the biggest impact was Sex In A Cold Climate, the first TV documentary that I worked on. This Channel 4 programme brought to worldwide attention the plight of young women who were incarcerated in Ireland's Magdalene Asylums. The investigation became a global news item with questions asked in the Irish parliament. It was named by Broadcast magazine as one of the top ten most influential programmes of British TV and was the inspiration for Peter Mullan's award-winning film The Magdalene Sisters.
Broadcasting companies I've worked for include the BBC, Testimony Films, Icon Films, Quickfire Media and Steadfast TV.
I have taken my broadcast skills into the corporate sector for companies including DeVere hotels. One of my aspirations is to combine positive psychology with my media background to create inspirational programming.