Couple to set up regional TV firm

A HUSBAND and wife team from North Yorkshire have won major backing to set up a regional television production company.

A year after their Channel 5 film Agatha and the Truth of Murder, Emily and Tom Dalton have won support from the UK investment group Great Point Media to start their own firm, called Factual Fiction.

The company will combine Mrs Dalton’s background managing Endemol Shine’s label DSP – and originator of documentaries such as Richard III: The King in the Car Park, The Mill, 24 Hours in the Past and Made in Great Britain – with Mr Dalton’s work as a commercials director and writer/producer of the continuing Agatha trilogy.

Combining drama, documentary and specialist factual content, the company will operate two sister labels: Good Story Rory and Salted Bomb.

The Daltons’ second Agatha film The Curse of Ishtar, starring Lyndsey Marshall and Jonah Hauer-King, made a similar impact to the first when it screened just before Christmas. Their third, Midnight Murders, starring Helen Baxendale, Blake Harrison and Alistair Petrie, is coming soon.

Mrs Dalton said: “Ishtar and Midnight Murders were shot back-to-back in Malta and went from idea to finished films in 10 months.

“As the industry consolidates post lockdown, we aim to bring the same relentless energy and focus to our upcoming projects.”

Jim Reeve, Group CEO at Great Point Media, said the couple “represent the depth of talent that can be found across the country” and he looks forward to helping Factual Fiction develop.