Garvie joined
Granada Television in
Manchester in 1988 as a sports researcher. He spent ten years at Granada as a producer on various entertainment shows such as
This Morning,
The Krypton Factor and
Live from the Lilydrome, before becoming Director of Broadcasting in 1996, with responsibility for what was then the
ITV broadcaster for the
North West of England. In 1998 he moved to the
BBC, first as Head of Entertainment & Features Manchester, before taking overall responsibility for all the television and radio output from Manchester and well as the BBC’s television music shows. This period saw the launch of archive based pop culture strands such as
I Love the ‘70s,
When…Ruled the World, as well as the revamp of traditional favourites such as
A Question of Sport and
Top of the Pops. He also oversaw the Music production arm of Entertainment for the BBC. In 2002, he was promoted to Head of Entertainment Group for the BBC, overseeing the Corporation’s inhouse production teams. Garvie is credited with changing the culture of the department and the birth of a new era of programmes at the BBC. Among the shows his team brought to the screen were
Strictly Come Dancing,
Honey, We’re Killing the Kids,
Hard Spell and ''
Dragons' Den'', which he predicted would become a major hit: “It is symbolic of everything we are trying to do”. The show went on to become not only a hit in the UK, but around the world, licensed to 60 countries, with
The Guinness Book of Records declaring it the world’s most successful reality format. At first,
BBC Worldwide failed to sell the format in the US, but Garvie took his team to sell directly which led to
ABC commissioning
Dancing with the Stars. This was the first time the BBC had produced a show in the US for American network television and led to the creation of the first BBC production unit outside of the UK. From there Garvie left the BBC’s public service arm to join BBC Worldwide in a newly created role of Managing Director Content and Production. At BBC Worldwide, Garvie took responsibility for growing brands such as
Dancing with the Stars,
Top Gear and
Doctor Who internationally. He also initiated new strategies of starting BBC production companies around the world and investing in new start up British independents. The first of these was
Left Bank Pictures led by former
Granada executive
Andy Harries, followed by
Big Talk,
Clerkenwell and
Baby Cow. In 2010 Garvie left BBC Worldwide to join
All3Media as Managing Director International Production. He left within two years to join
Sony Pictures Television as Chief Creative Officer for International Production, working to
Andrea Wong who had commissioned Dancing with the Stars for ABC. producers of
Sex Education, and led an investment in Whisper Group. Sony also has a number of minority investments in drama companies such as Fable Pictures –
Anne Boleyn –
Blueprint Pictures –
A Very English Scandal, and
Stolen Picture –
Truth Seekers. Garvie also greenlit a television series based around
Anthony Horowitz’s
Alex Rider books, the first time the studio had produced a series in the UK without a commission from producers Eleventh Hour Films. In 2018 Garvie approached
Jeremy Clarkson to present a return of
Who Wants to be a Millionaire, although the host later said “I wasn’t really listening, I never thought it would actually happen”. The show has since become a staple of the ITV schedule and led to a round of further reboots of the format around the world. ==Personal life==