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| Born 30.05.49, Stephen Leahy's quarter of a century in television has seen him rise to the unchallengeable position of mentor of the modern game show. As Joint Managing Director of Action Time, he oversaw the production of up to twenty programmes in over forty countries, many his own creations. His achievements were recently recognised by the University of Huddersfield who awarded him an honorary professorship.
After joining Granada Television in 1972 as a Researcher, he quickly rose to Promotions Editor and Producer of Regional Programmes and Light Entertainment shows. In 1982 he became Senior Producer of Network Children's Programmes and was appointed to the Network Children's Committee. He became Granada's Head of Light Entertainment in 1987. Whilst there Stephen turned his hand to quiz shows from all sides of the spectrum from the Krypton Factor to Busman's Holiday to University Challenge. Stephen was poached from Granada in 1988 to turn format importer, Action Time, into a producer and creator of entertainment shows both in the UK and internationally. The company soon became the first British production outlet to supply all major broadcasters (both terrestrial and satellite) and he formed an International Division which enjoyed an equally meteoric rise with Action Time formats now on-air in over 40 countries. Stephen is one of the few successful creators of game shows with a worldwide reputation. He has broken down conventional game show subject matters, bringing to the screen shows based on books, board games and biblical knowledge. He brought the murder classic Cluedo to life for the ITV network, upon which the world's first multi-faith religious show, Heaven Knows (also Leahy co-devised) was shown. He also brought You've Been Framed (from the US) and Stars In Their Eyes (Dutch) to British Broadcasters. His horticultural creation Surprise Gardeners became Action Time's first format deal in the US, and 'Chance of a Lifetime' ran as 5 'specials on the Fox Network in 2000. It has since been sold in 15 countries and is enjoying continued success as a daily live programme on Sat 1 in Germany. Beyond these creative talents, Stephen has also found time to host The Box, a radio show about television for Radio Five Live as well as penning a Manchester Evening News column, Leahy at Large. In 1993, he joined with fellow Joint Managing Director of Action Time, Trish Kinane, in effecting a management buyout of 70% of Action Time from its owners Carlton Communications and Paramount Pictures. They then sold that back to Carlton in 1996, agreeing to a 5 year personal contract which ended in October 2001. Stephen and Trish have now set up LUDUS, a company dedicated to creating and creative management of game show and entertainment worldwide. |
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