Tom Gutteridge

[9][10][11][12] In 1980 Gutteridge moved to Music & Arts department as Executive Producer, where he was responsible for the twice-weekly Russell Harty chat shows.

In 1982, he produced and directed the comedy sketch series A Kick Up the Eighties, which discovered the talents of Rik Mayall (as Kevin Turvey) and Tracey Ullman, and which won a Scottish BAFTA.

[19][20][21] On 21 October 1985 he directed Blue Suede Shoes, a Rockabilly Special with Carl Perkins, which starred Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and George Harrison,[22] Dave Edmunds, Rosanne Cash, Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom.

The following year, Gutteridge wrote and directed the ITV ice ballet Sleeping Beauty, with Robin Cousins,[32][33] which also won Best Director at the International Monitor Awards.

[40] From 1987, the firm produced a number of weekly arts magazine series for ITV regional companies, including 01-for London for Thames TV,[41] which was hosted by Richard Jobson, Neil Mullarkey, Mark Webster and Paula Yates, First Night for Central, Wideangle for Anglia, as well as the daily Box Office for Channel 4.

Gutteridge was Executive Producer of the BBC1 comedy film The Bullion Boys, starring David Jason and Brenda Blethyn, for which he won the 1994 International Emmy Award for Drama.

[50] Other Mentorn productions Gutteridge created and produced included the talent show Star for a Night, with Jane McDonald, which in 2001 discovered the singer Joss Stone.

[51] Gutteridge also produced the BBC1 debate series You Decide with Jeremy Paxman[52] and the daily BBC2 news quiz Today's the Day with Martyn Lewis, which ran from 1992 to 1999.

[54] Gutteridge also produced the first entertainment programme for the new ITV franchise Carlton Television, Surprise Party, broadcast on 1 January 1993.

[57] Robot Wars first broadcast on BBC2 in February 1998, hosted by Jeremy Clarkson and Philippa Forrester, and a further 5 series were made for BBC2 with Craig Charles, reaching ratings in excess of 4 million viewers.

[62][63] In 2003 Gutteridge moved to the United States, where he co-created and produced the Fox network series Paradise Hotel and Forever Eden.

[64] In 2003, Gutteridge quit Mentorn[65] and was headhunted by FremantleMedia to become its chief executive officer in North America,[66][67] where he was responsible for the company's operations in the US and Canada, which included the productions American Idol and The Price Is Right.

[68][69] In 2007, Gutteridge returned to the UK and moved with his partner Joanna to Northumberland, where he founded the production company Standing Stone, which has produced a number of entertainment formats, including the quiz show Hot Seat, sold to Debmar Mercury,[70] and the dating show Loveland, sold to Sky, Fox, and a number of other networks in 2008.

[75] In 2013, Standing Stone signed a development deal with the Fox network in the United States for a new entertainment format, The Ideas Factory.

Standing Stone also had a digital division, which developed a revolutionary interactive voting and information app for Channel Four's Dispatches series in 2012, of which Gutteridge was Executive Producer of 20 episodes.