Wall to Wall In 1987, Root co-founded and was Joint Managing Director of independent production company
Wall to Wall. She helped to launch
The Media Show, a defining program from the early years of
Channel 4. During her tenure, alongside business partner Alex Graham, she helped nurture Wall to Wall from being a start-up to becoming 'one of the leading factual programme-makers in the business', best known in the United States for
Texas Ranger House on
PBS. The company was recently sold to
Shed Media.
The BBC In 1997, Root became the head of the BBC's Independent Commissioning Group, a new department tasked with finding 25% of the BBC's output from the independent production sector. The group – which dealt with drama, entertainment and factual – was responsible for hits like
The Naked Chef, and Root was dubbed the "high priestess of lifestyle television" after she championed
Jamie Oliver. In 1999, she became Controller for
BBC Two, running the UK's 3rd largest network, and was the first woman controller of a BBC television channel. The series was received with a mixed response in the press, with some critics targeting the populist nature of the chosen personalities.
The Big Read, a series with a similar public vote format, was equally successful with viewers but was reviled by some critics. There were criticisms of her time at the channel, "Root's BBC Two increasingly gave the impression of being pieced together on the flimsiest of whims", with claims that the arts and 'serious' documentaries were sidelined in pursuit of ratings, leaving it to
BBC Four to develop innovative programmes. However, Root defended the "real revitalisation in current affairs and arts programming" that she oversaw at BBC2, with cultural programming such as
Mozart, and
Love Again (about poet Philip Larkin) as prime examples. the channel bucked the trend in declining viewing figures by increasing its audience share. Under Root, BBC Two was the third most-watched channel in the UK, with ratings consistently above 11%. Root left her position at the BBC in 2004, and moved to the US to join
Discovery Networks.
Jana Bennett, Director of Television at the BBC, said at the time that the channel was losing "an exceptional creative talent who has inspired programme-makers". In 2009 Janice Hadlow, current controller of BBC2 talked about her influence in an article in
The Guardian newspaper and said "A lot of the things Jane did were extraordinary, channel defining".
Discovery Networks USA As President of
Discovery Networks, Root ran a portfolio of channels that included
Discovery Channel,
Science Channel,
Military Channel and Times Channel (now called
Investigation Discovery). During her presidency, she re-positioned the network with shows such as
Deadliest Catch,
Man vs. Wild, and
Dirty Jobs. She also organised the promotion around
Planet Earth (2006 TV series), a joint venture with the BBC, which quickly became one of Discovery's biggest hits. These shows helped find a new audience for the 20-year-old network, particularly among 25-to-54-year-old males. This led to record ratings and primetime increases of 10% in 2006 and 13% in 2007, and overall ratings up in 2007 to 16%. In 2007, Discovery announced her departure from the channel. She was replaced at Discovery by John Ford. There was much speculation in the British press that she would be taking up the role of controller of BBC1, but in the event the job went to Jay Hunt, a former BBC Daytime controller.
Nutopia In 2009, Root returned to the independent production sector to set up a new TV production company called
Nutopia. The new company aims to focus on ambitious factual series of all types, as well as factually-inspired drama. Root is CEO and the Managing Director is Carl Griffin, a former Disney, Universal and HBO exec. Other board members are
Michael Jackson (television executive) and
Peter Bazalgette. In May 2009, it was announced that Nutopia's first commission would be the 12-part series
America: The Story of US for the
History Channel. The series focuses on American history, from the origins of the country to infrastructural and technological development, exploring the people, places and things that shaped its history. The series achieved the highest-rated special documentary in the network's history,[2] with the debut show gaining 5.7 million viewers In December 2010, Root gave the Keynote speech at the
SPAA Conference in Sydney. She is also an active commentator on the television industry. In 2019, she produced the
drama series Jesus: His Life, about the
life of Jesus. ==References==