
Our Story
More than a decade ago, in a brilliant corner of TV-land, a group of us from different reaches of the UK started making programmes together. We all just clicked, and our ambitions, talents and content grew.
Several years later, our TV home became part of a super-indie, where we had an incredible time and won extraordinary projects, but when this chapter closed, we all still had the same goals – make great films, with kind, inspiring and generous people who share the same spark for creativity and collaboration…where nothing is too ambitious, curious or challenging.
A New Chapter
In 2024 we launched Rushlight Films – a collaboration between Executive Producer Natalie Wilkinson (former senior team at Warner Bros. Television UK and head of the ‘wild’ department), Producer/Showrunners Kate Fraser, Sam Ash, Alexis Anoyrkatis, and Sean McDonnell and our wider team, including talented top-tier crew. We have worked together closely for over twelve successful years in non-scripted formats and documentaries filmed across the world for major networks in the UK, U.S and global markets.
Our previous award-winning titles range from Feature Doc to Docu-Soap, and have been sold to multiple territories worldwide. Our team has filmed in some of the most remote and complex environments on the planet, from the Amazon and Outer Mongolia to death row and the only natural disaster exclusion zone in the world. We've established long-term relationships with contributors on sensitive stories, and negotiated access with cartels, law enforcement, indigenous tribes and lawless off-grid communities.
For Natural History, we’ve travelled to the Serengeti and followed specific animal characters for a year (The Great African Migration, Channel 5), and used new tech/research to reveal new science and natural history stories (Turtles: Inside the Nest, BBC).

CEO
Natalie Wilkinson
One of my proudest career achievements hands down is the bringing together of our brilliant and creative rabble over twelve passionate and nurturing years, all of which has led to Rushlight Films. My previous senior role at Warner Bros. Television (UK), saw me helm 'team wild' as Executive Producer on specialist factual, factual entertainment series and documentaries. Together we built titles to include the acclaimed series Ben Fogle: New Lives In The Wild, Our Yorkshire Farm, World’s Most Dangerous Roads, Nature's Turtle Nursery: Inside the Nest, Sue Perkins’ - Big American Road Trip, the launch film for HBO Max into Europe and Investigating Witch Trials with actor Suranne Jones. I also love to be ‘boots on the ground’ and direct stories all over the world; from the mighty Serengeti to Slab City in the Californian desert. Projects include the ground-breaking series Safari Park Adventure in 3D, acclaimed African natural history series The Great Migration and anthropology series Surviving The Stone Age: Adventure in the Wild. I began my career at Aardman Animations before joining ITV in 1997 in the factual department. In 2005, I co-founded my own female-led production company, winning specialist and innovative wildlife commissions and human-interest factual series. Our programmes sold to more than 150 countries and won 4 broadcast awards. I was short-listed for an RTS 'Best Director' Award for Death Row Dates. At home, I have a whizz of an editor husband, am a proud mum of 2 young budding actors, am passionate about movies and anything outdoors, oh and can also be found as an ‘enthusiastic’ member of a ‘Vintage’ street dance crew. True story.

Managing Director
Kate Fraser
I started my television career at Atlantic Productions back in 2006, spending 3 years researching mummies and ancient tombs from a London office, though never actually ending up in Egypt. I then jumped into the freelance world making a myriad of factual programmes that included rebuilding parts of the Titanic for Channel 4, an all-encompassing drama-documentary about the history of Britain for Sky Atlantic, journeying down the Nile with Joanna Lumley for ITV, and a retrospective on Roald Dahl with David Walliams (also for ITV). In 2012 I landed at Renegade Pictures for a shoot in Texas on the first ever New Lives in the Wild episode. As the series grew, I stepped into directing and went on other epic shoots (including to Egypt!). The off-grid, wild way of living inspired our young family to make a much tamer move out of London to the Warwickshire countryside where we set up a small holding with pigs, goats and chickens. During the New Lives in the Wild UK series, I met the Owens, a hill shepherding family with nine children living and working together on their remote farm in the idyllic Yorkshire Dales. From there we created Our Yorkshire Farm another returnable series which went on to become Channel 5s highest rating factual programme, and won a Content Innovation Award (2021). My ambition for Rushlight is to not only continue making character-driven programmes but include and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, which me and my family are a part of. And, because I have a black belt in Tang Soo Do (a type of Korean karate) I’ll take any opportunity to make telly about martial arts!

Editorial Director
Sam Ash
I live on the North Downs in the Kent countryside with my wife and two children, who are now young adults, and two unruly cats. I started working in film at Silverglade, a post production house on London's Southbank as an assistant editor. I worked on many documentary projects there including the Ewan McGregor series: Long Way Round (TV Mini Series 2004–2010). From rewiring entire machine rooms on a shoestring to marketing campaigns down at the local Thai restaurant. It was a crash course in small business management and an unforgettable education in post production. While there I became the Senior Online Editor/Colourist and head of final picture post. I worked on, and oversaw the delivery of a large range of projects to all the major UK broadcasters. From well-known series like I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, 60 Minute Makeover and This Morning. To long-form feature films for international distribution and cinema release; such as My Kidnapper (2010). In 2013 I joined Natalie, Alexis, Kate and Sean on the editorial team for series 1 of Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild (TV Series 2013– ). We found we had a shared dream to make honest films that elevate the contributors' stories and celebrate the talent of the amazing crew that we work with. Together we have made films that have won awards, Surviving the Stone Age: Adventure to the Wild (TV Mini Series 2020) and created series that have broken records in view ratings and become household favourites, such as Our Yorkshire Farm (TV Series 2018–2022). During my spare time I love to play my guitar and write folk blues songs, and have taken influence from the likes of John Hurt, Bert Janch and Nick Drake. I’m also a keen photographer and enjoy collecting vintage 35mm cameras.

Creative Director
Alexis Anoyrkatis
I’ve been working in television for 25 years, primarily as an editor, but I also write, produce and direct. I love the puzzle of filmmaking (”What exactly is the story?”) and I admire the multitude of crafts that go into making them. Before I moved into TV, I spent several years composing and touring as a musician, supporting some well-known acts, but I soon realised that it would be better consigned to just a passionate hobby. My lifelong obsession with film, however, seemed a better fit as a career. I had started making short films at school — spoofs, musicals, comedy radio shows — and was able to get an apprenticeship at ITV. In 2004, I went freelance and have since worked on a variety of genres including, World’s Most Dangerous Roads, Vicky McClure’s Our Dementia Choir, The Great African Migration, New Lives in the Wild and Death Row Dates. I now specialise in stories about people on the margins — those who live outside the mainstream, who often go unheard. I believe that the quietest voices often carry the most humanity, and I’m committed to making work that reflects that. I still try to watch over 250 films a year. There’s always something delightful to find in a film, no matter the budget or genre. The forgotten ones are sometimes the best of all.

Director of Programmes
Sean McDonnell
Earlier in my career, I cut my teeth at companies including Renegade Pictures, Oxford Scientific Films, Atlantic Productions and Darlow Smithson, working across a wide range of genres and collaborating with talent such as Sir David Attenborough, Richard Hammond, Stacey Dooley and Stephen Mangan. That experience has led me to become a Series Producer and Producer/Director with over 20 years’ experience making premium factual television, often driven by character-led storytelling and ambitious locations. Much of my career has been spent working on landmark adventure and travel formats, most notably directing and series producing multiple series of Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild and its spin-off Return to the Wild. Projects such as Channel 4’s Our Wildest Dreams saw me directing in the Amazon and the Zambian wilderness, while World’s Most Dangerous Roads took me to Australia, where I directed on location and later series produced the eight-episode follow-up series. In 2025, I produced and directed Beyond the Silk Road, a feature-length theatrical documentary for Blink Films, reuniting Dominic West and Clarke Peters from The Wire on a journey through the wilds of Kyrgyzstan. The buzz of exploration and travel is embedded in me, and I still get excited by the prospect of heading to far-flung places and meeting extraordinary characters. While I love to travel, I’m also deeply drawn to my Irish roots and have strong ambitions to develop and make more content focused on my homeland.

Consultant Head of Business
Ed Nissen
After a false-start career-wise in finance, I chose TV and have never looked back. What a ride it has been. I have worked in almost all genres of non-scripted, from blue chip, award-winning documentaries, to blue light cop shows, from live drugs on TV to massive reality shows in Los Angeles, Mexico and Jamaica, with cooking, wildlife and current affairs shows in between. These days I have calmed right down and am now very, very proud to be consulting for Rushlight Films on all the corporate areas of their productions and business. I split my time between London and Somerset which is pretty idyllic.

Head of Production
Claire Bugden
With a television career spanning 27 years, I started in 1998 on the BAFTA award winning Channel 4 series This is Modern Art with Oxford Film & TV. This led to several years in arts and history program making for multiple production companies, including The History of DNA and The Real Dambusters for Windfall Films. I continued to work on a variety of projects becoming a Production Manager in 2006, where I worked on more factual documentaries like The Convent for Tiger Aspect, Ultimate Traveller for Studio Lambert and The Story of US for Nutopia. In 2010 I joined Renegade Pictures to work on 2 large international factual series, The Lion Whisperer and Safari Park in 3D, my love for wild & adventure programme making continued with World’s Most Dangerous Roads (then for the BBC and later for UKTV) which led to a career defining move to oversee production on Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild with Natalie and the rest of my colleagues at Rushlight Films. Whilst working on this production, I was able to explore a passion for storytelling by crossing over from production into editorial, fully supported by my colleagues to produce and direct captivating human stories. This has continued over the last couple of years as I returned to the freelance market in 2024, expanding my skill set further with the international adventure programmes; Philip Scofield’s Cast Away for Burning Bright Productions and Beyond the Silk Road with Dominic West for Blink Films. I’m excited to be at Rushlight continuing to make fantastic programmes, both internationally and at home, with an unbelievably talented team. To continue to encourage and support other people like me, who have navigated their way through TV production and want to be involved in all aspects of programming making, not just to be limited to either production or editorial. When I’m not working… you’ll find me either walking somewhere picturesque or obsessively shopping for home interior bargains (because it’s not all about the wild outdoors!)

Producer/Director
Jo Young



We've taken on the World's Most Dangerous Roads (U/Dave) and explored Lost World's (Channel 5).
The Telegraph
"The Kardashians of the Countryside"
Beyond the Yorkshire Farm
The Guardian
“Still Channel 5's most thoughtful programme”
Ben Fogle's New Lives in the Wild
The Times
"A fresh take on an exhausted trope: the celebrity travelogue”
Sue Perkins' Big American Road Trip



