The Garden, part of ITV Studios, has announced that Nicola Brown has been appointed as Director of Programmes. Brown will join Chief Executive Magnus Temple, Chief Creative Officer John Hay and Managing Director Nicola Hill to help grow and deliver The Garden’s expanding slate, which includes Channel 4 hits 24 Hours in A&E and 24 Hours in Police Custody, new shows for the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Nat Geo and the recent commission of the US version of 24 Hours in Police Custody, a co-production for Channel 4 and Discovery.

Brown will begin her new role in March.  She joins from Channel 4 where she was a Commissioning Editor in the Specialist Factual team, overseeing SAS: Who Dares Wins and a raft of new series including the currently airing Meat the Family and the upcoming Joanne Lees and Peter Falconio crime series, as well as the channel’s new factual digital strand True Stories.

Prior to Channel 4, Brown was Head of Documentaries at Shine and executive producer for the award-winning Hunted and Celebrity Hunted series and The Island with Bear Grylls.  Other production credits include RDF’s award-winning Secret Life of 4, 5 and 6-year-olds, Educating Cardiff for Twofour and 24 Hours in A&E during a first stint with The Garden.

In addition, Ninder Billing has been appointed as Head of Specialist Factual. Billing has been an Executive Producer at the company for the past two years, overseeing projects including BAFTA-nominated Operation Live on Channel 5, ITV’s Police Tapes series, BBC Two commission Five Star Renovation: Inside The Luxury Hotel (w/t), and The Unshockable Dr Ronx (w/t) for BBC Three. Billing has a long-track record as an executive producer and commissioner of innovative programmes from popular documentaries and formats to live events and current affairs, having previously been a commissioning editor at Channel 5.