SMG Productions

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SMG Productions is the network television production arm of the British media group SMG plc, and incorporates Ginger Productions. With bases in Glasgow and London, its output includes drama, factual/factual entertainment, entertainment and children’s programming. With a client list that includes all the UK terrestrial networks as well as the major satellite and cable channels, the company is one of the key programme suppliers to the UK television market.

It makes hundreds of hours of programming for UK and international television networks and consistently brings some of the best talent and leading programme brands to the small screen.

SMG Productions is the home of Taggart, an international success story with consistently high ITV ratings international sales to more than 40 territories. Now in its 20th year, Taggart is the UK’s longest running TV crime drama. Other successes include adapting Ian Rankin’s Rebus for television with John Hannah as the lead, and remaking the classic Goodbye, Mr. Chips starring Martin Clunes.

In 2005, ITV commissioned SMG to produce two brand new feature length episodes of Rebus, based on the best-selling novels of Ian Rankin, with Ken Stott in the lead role. Following production, ITV commissioned a further four episodes before the first two had aired, which was a huge boost to the company.

SMG Productions Factual department has a long track record in award winning factual production with programmes like After Lockerbie, The Few, The Charge of the Light Brigade and Magic at War. The department has also followed the medical practitioners and rescue services of the Highlands and Islands for the ITV observational documentary Medics of the Glen and recounted the painful stories of parents who have spent years seeking justice for their daughter’s murders abroad – Justice for my Daughter (ITV). The department expanded into the area of factual entertainment with the production of Club Reps, the successful long running series for the ITV Network.

This expansion was further enhanced by the acquisition of Ginger Media Group. The synergy with its "little brother" production company, Ginger Productions, has created an innovative hybrid department, Factual Entertainment. This has resulted in some of the most talked about TV programmes in recent years, including Detox and Celebrity Detox for Five and Don’t Drop the Coffin for ITV. This moving, yet uplifting and often funny, series followed the day to day activities of a team of South London undertakers and was one of the most talked about programmes in 2003.

Ginger Productions continued to build its reputation for strong entertainment programming in 2005 with action packed series and ratings winner Jack Osbourne: Adrenaline Junkie for ITV2 and a one-off documentary with a revengeful twist, Paul Zenon’s Revenge Squad for ITV.

The Children’s Department is one of the biggest children’s producers in the country covering children’s drama, animation, factual and entertainment. It produces show such as How 2 and Prove It! for CITV and Cre-8, an art show for Discovery Kids. SMG also produced children’s drama, Uncle Dad, which was broadcast on CITV, early in 2006.

SMG Productions also holds the rights to Art Attack, but the show is produced by The Media Merchants. SMG also holds the rights to the British version of This Is Your Life.