Who we are
With a focus on character-led contemporary series, Firebird is committed to bringing a diversity of voices to the screen to tell bold and entertaining stories for a global audience.
Firebird Pictures is a scripted production company set up by former BBC Executives Elizabeth Kilgarriff and Craig Holleworth in 2019. With a particular focus on character-led contemporary series, Firebird works with the very best writing and directing creatives to create high end, bold and distinctive content for UK and international audiences. With our excellent reputation for developing ideas and projects into award winning shows, Firebird takes pride in enabling and empowering story-tellers to create their very best work.
Firebird Pictures have recently had two major series air with the BBC and Amazon Prime Video and have shows launching on both UK and US platforms in 2025.
Firebird Pictures is a BBC Studios owned production label.
The team
Elizabeth Kilgarriff
Co-Founder and CEO
Elizabeth Kilgarriff is an award nominated producer and former Senior Commissioning Editor for BBC Drama. With over 20 years experience in the industry, her multi award-winning portfolio of work includes Emmy and Golden Globe nominated Bodyguard, Bafta winning thrillers The Cry and The Victim, Emmy nominated Luther, International Emmy winning McMafia and the critically acclaimed Thirteen starring Jodie Comer.
Craig Holleworth
Co-Founder and COO
Craig is a veteran of the BBC for many years responsible for all Business, Strategic and Commercial operations for Drama and BBC Films. He has been involved in many programmes over the years but some of his highlights include Doctor Who, Peaky Blinders and His Dark Materials. He co-founded Firebird Pictures in 2019.
Nikki Saunders
Director of Production
Nikki joined Firebird Pictures from BBC Studios where she was Director of Production for Continuing Drama and Birmingham Drama. Nikki has 30 years of experience in scripted productions working up from floor runner through a variety of roles in production and post production to line producer before joining the BBC as a production consultant, and then moving to Head of Production and finally Director of Production.
Ayela Butt
Creative Director
Ayela joined Firebird from BBC Drama Commissioning, where she worked as a Commissioning Executive. During her time at the BBC, Ayela championed exciting new voices for BBC3, executive producing shows including Nicôle Lecky’s Mood and Lauren Sequeira’s Domino Day, as well as working on some of the biggest BBC1 shows of recent years including The Gold, The Pursuit of Love, Small Axe and Ridley Road.
Matthew Mosley
Executive Producer
Matthew joined Firebird Pictures on day one, building shows with some of the industry’s brightest new voices alongside established stars. He served as an Executive Producer on Outrageous for UKTV & BritBox. Before this he worked in-house at the BBC as script editor and development executive; his credits include Luther, MotherFatherSon, Thirteen and Silent Witness.
Sarah Wyatt
Executive Producer
Sarah joined Firebird Pictures from FilmNation TV UK where she was Head of Development. Prior to this Sarah was a Development Executive at BBC Studios where she developed We Hunt Together among others. Her experience as a Script Editor includes The Man in the High Castle, Indian Detective and Harlots. Sarah spend 4 years working at Frank Spotnitz’s Big Light Productions predominantly in writers’ rooms. She served as an Exec Producer on our BBC1 show The Jetty.
Mike Knox-Smith
Head of Finance
Mike joins Firebird Pictures after 8 years at BBC Studios where he worked across both the Distribution and Production arms of the business. Most recently, he supported in-house Scripted production working across Drama, Comedy and Kids & Family genres in delivering a wide range of productions including Doctor Who, Good Omens and Trying.
Andin Ngwa
Development Executive
Andin joined Firebird after script editing ITV/Amazon US’ Riches and Amazon’s The Rig. Prior to this she worked in development at Hillbilly Films and was junior researcher at Daybreak Pictures working on a Peter Kosminsky project, after spending some time in factual TV. Recently, Andin produced short film The Hold which premiered at BFI Flare amongst being received at other festivals. Andin is passionate about bringing new, fresh, bold perspectives to the screen.
Katie Stevens
Development Producer
Katie joined Firebird back in 2019 straight from her MA; she had worked as a runner and produced her first few short films. After working as Development Assistant within the team, she is now a Development Producer. She script edited for Wilderness for Amazon Prime Video and BBC’s upcoming Nicôle Lecky Drama Wild Cherry. She is passionate about contemporary storytelling and loves fostering new Irish perspectives for screen. She continues building her editorial experience and is excited about the future of Firebird!
Ruby MacLennan
Development Editor
Ruby began working with Firebird as a freelance researcher, before joining the team permanently to script edit The Jetty (BBC1) and Outrageous. In development, Ruby is excited by fresh perspectives from new voices.
Christine Quill
Development Coordinator
Christine joined Firebird Pictures after working for Two Brothers Pictures as a Production Assistant. Her credits include Boat Story, The Tourist S2 and Dinosaur. Having made the move over to development, she is building her editorial judgement under industry greats, equally focused on pushing boundaries in storytelling. She’s thrilled to work in a writer-led space that values character-driven stories.