At the age of 26, and after years living the rock’n’roll dream, Michael enrolled on the inaugural year of BA Hons Media & Communication Studies at University of Greenwich. He says he was initially attracted by the variety of course content and Greenwich’s proximity to the UK’s major TV companies.
“I don’t remember having a clear idea of what exactly I wanted to do when I started the course”, says Michael, “but my wife often reminds me that I’d joked that, if I study TV Production, I could end up working on Top of the Pops one day.” Ten years later, Michael was producing it.
Michael has forged a hugely successful career at numerous UK Production Companies and Broadcasters across a huge variety of genres of programming from Lifestyle to Entertainment, Comedy to Crime, Daytime to Primetime, becoming one of the UK’s leading TV Producers.
In 2013, he formed Potato, a production company within ITV Studios.
In 2018, Potato produced almost 400 hours of programmes for broadcasters in the UK and USA, including ITV’s The Chase.
Michael’s success has been recognised with many awards and accolades including a BAFTA in 2017 and in February 2019 The Chase took home the award for ‘Best Quiz Show’ at the National Television Awards.
The Chase has since landed further accolades, winning ‘Best Quiz Show’ at the 2019 National Television Awards. The show celebrated it’s 10th anniversary the same year.
In 2020, Potato-produced spin-off show Beat the Chasers aired for a week-long run in April to critical and audience acclaim.
Michael has also been back to campus, sharing his advice and expertise with current Media & TV production students, in events organised by Greenwich Students’ Union.
