TALL STORY PICTURES
THE TEAM
CATHERINE OLDFIELD
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Catherine co-founded Tall Story Pictures in 2016. She was Executive Producer on Sticks & Stones and Trauma both by Mike Bartlett, Season 2 of Kate Brooke’s Bancroft and is EP on Daragh Carville’s The Bay.
Catherine joined ITV Studios Drama in 2011 where her credits include 2 series of Simon Block’s Home Fires; Guy Burt’s lavish serial Tutankhamun.
Prior to this, Catherine has held posts at Monkey Kingdom where she was Head of Drama and Scripted Comedy; she was Development Producer at Greenlit working on 4 series of Anthony Horowitz’s Foyle’s War, Collision written by Anthony and Michael A Walker, James Graham’s Caught in A Trap, Vexed by Howard Overman and Honest written by Jack and Harry Williams.
A previous role as Head of Development at Sally Head Productions saw Catherine working on Peter Ransley’s The Cry and the Bafta-nominated adaptation of Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith for BBC 1.
PHIL HUNTER
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Phil joined Tall Story Pictures in September 2023. He takes over as Executive Producer on Grace - Series 5 will see another four of Peter James’ bestselling books adapted for ITV - as well as developing his own original projects.
Originally from Northumberland, Phil’s first paid job in TV was on the other side of the Pennines on Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights. Since then, his career has seen him take up both production and editorial focused roles working for a number of leading independent production companies including Kay Mellor’s Rollem Productions and Mammoth Screen. As a Script Editor he worked on Hollyoaks, EastEnders, Holby City and Hustle working with a wide range of writers. After producing in-house for the BBC, Phil produced Midsomer Murders and was Executive Producer on five series of Vera. Before joining Tall Story, Phil Co-produced Paul Rutman’s Apple TV+ show Criminal Record.
Phil has strong relationships with writing talent and has a commitment to seeking out distinctive voices and enabling writers to tell their stories in a creative and supportive environment.
AMY THURGOOD
DEVELOPMENT PRODUCER
Amy joined Tall Story as Development Producer in March 2022. She brings with her a wealth of development and production experience, and is currently progressing several existing projects, as well as bringing new and distinctive voices to the slate.
Prior to joining the team, Amy worked as a development executive at Two Cities Television, developing both original and IP projects with writers including Ashley Pharoah, Ruth Fowler and Neil McKay, as well as with newer writers. Previous to this, she produced the debut series of Robert Murphy's McDonald & Dodds, assistant produced and script edited two series of Endeavour with Russell Lewis, and worked across shows like Pete Bowker's World on Fire in a development capacity. She also script edited Call The Midwife, working with Heidi Thomas and Harriet Warner, and was script and story editor at BBC's River City. She began her career in development at Impossible Pictures, also working as assistant script editor on the final two series of Primeval.
JENNA ROBBINS
DEVELOPMENT PRODUCER
Jenna joined Tall Story Pictures in April 2022 as a Development Producer, tasked with finding and developing a diverse and entertaining slate of scripted projects.
Jenna started her career on continuing dramas Holby City and Casualty, before going on to script edit a slate of high end dramas in development and production, including Baker Boys written by Helen Raynor and Gary Owen, Upstairs Downstairs by Heidi Thomas and War and Peace adapted by Andrew Davies, as well as producing a series of short films for BBC Wales/iPlayer. Jenna produced reputational single drama Aberfan: The Green Hollow, written by Owen Sheers which was BAFTA nominated for Best Single Drama and went on to head up a slate of developments for BBC Studios as well as Script Producing season 2 of crime drama We Hunt Together created and written by Gaby Hull for Alibi/UKTV and Showtime.
MAYA SHICKELL
STORY PRODUCER
Maya joined Tall Story Pictures in 2020 as Script Editor on the first series of Grace, working with Russell Lewis.
After the success of the first two series, Maya was promoted to Story Producer and is currently working with writers Ben Court, Caroline Ip and Ed
Whitmore on the third.
Having started in the industry as a script reader, she then joined Corona Content initially as an intern before being promoted to Development Assistant and then Development Executive working with writers such as Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran.
Maya then helped manage development at Awesome Media working across TV, Books and Graphic
novels for writer and executive producer Jeff Norton, as well as assisting across the co-production of Susan Hill’s Ghost Story for Channel 5.
Maya loves working closely with writers and as a champion of new voices has mentored for 4Screenwriting.
SAMANTHA BERRY
ASSISTANT TO CATHERINE OLDFIELD & PHIL HUNTER
Samantha joined Tall Story in April 2022 as Assistant to Catherine and Phil. She brings with her a wealth of PA experience.
Samantha started her career in the motor industry before moving into the education sector where she worked for a number of years.
ELLE VAN LIL
SCRIPT EDITOR
Elle joined Tall Story Pictures in 2023 as a Trainee Script Editor. After a few years freelancing in theatre and journalism, she took her first steps in television at BBC's Doctors, where she worked as an assistant and researcher in the script department. She's excited to continue her training with the team at Tall Story Pictures, and champion upcoming voices in television.