Michael Carrington, the exec who first backed world youngsters smash Bluey, is retiring after a storied profession.
The previous BBC Children boss held quite a few high stage roles all through from the early Nineteen Nineties by means of to the 2020s, and had a popularity as some of the knowledgable within the enterprise, however is finest identified for supporting the event of Bluey whereas main the ABC TV Kids’s and Schooling division in Australia.
He introduced his retirement on LinkedIn, saying, “The world of tv has given me greater than I might have ever imagined.”
Having begun his profession in Australia at Community Ten, he joined CBBC as a producer in 1993 earlier than being whisked off to steer Lego’s TV and New Media division simply earlier than the millennium. He returned to the Beeb 4 years later in an acquisitions function at BBC Kids’s and rose to change into the primary Artistic Director and Controller of CBeebies in 2007. There he commissioned the likes of Within the Evening Backyard and Charlie & Lola, each of which nonetheless play day by day on the preschool community.
After shifting in 2010 to Turner to steer Cartoon Networks EMEA as Chief Content material Officer, the place he exec produced reveals corresponding to the Superb World of Gumball, he based Cartoon Networks Studios Arabia. He then joined Thomas & Pals proprietor Hit Leisure, which had been acquired by Mattel in 2012, and later turned CEO of Zodiak Children Studios, now a part of Banijay.
However it was when he moved again to Australia in 2016 that his greatest spot got here. Named as pubcaster the ABC’s youngsters content material boss, he noticed an early stage pilot of Bluey at an trade pitch and backed it with improvement cash. With BBC Studios, the industrial arm of his former employer the BBC, additionally boarding, he commissioned a full season of the animated sequence concerning the caring and humorous household of blue heeler canines.
Bluey was later acquired by Disney+ internationally and within the U.S., the place it has spent the previous 112 weeks in Nielsen’s most-streamed charts.
The ABC later promoted him to Head of Programming, handing him management of all TV channels and streamer ABC iView. Throughout this era he commissioned the likes of The Newsreader, additionally oversaw different capabilities for the pubcaster and led it through the troublesome early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. He left in 2023 and arrange an impartial manufacturing firm, which has now closed as he retires.
“The world of tv has given me greater than I might have ever imagined,” mentioned Carrington. “I’ve had the privilege to work with unimaginable gifted individuals and assist create content material that has introduced pleasure, training, and surprise to numerous households. As I step away, I’m full of delight figuring out that the values of creativity, variety, and inclusion which have guided me will proceed to encourage the following technology of storytellers. I’m excited to see what’s subsequent for this trade and grateful for all of the moments we’ve shared.”
