Q&A: In conversation with the team behind We Are England

We Are England delves into the vital issues that matter most to audiences, told from their perspectives and as they see them, the series puts current affairs in the hands of the people.

Examining the changing face of England and exploring the big issues people are talking about such as mental health and the housing crisis, to unsolved murders and young entrepreneurs striving to set up successful businesses in the face of adversity, the series offers a platform to voices and opinions across England and is produced from six hubs in Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham, Bristol, London and Norwich.

Host Perjeet Aujla will be joined by Head of Commissioning for BBC England, Aisling O’Connor, and Executive Producer Sarah Trigg to discuss the making of the series, offering an insight to coordinating a production across hubs and the importance of representing voices and audiences from across the country in current affairs.

We Are England starts on Wednesday 26 January 2022 at 19:30 on BBC One and will run weekly after that. If you miss it, you can catch up via the BBC iPlayer.

Speakers

Aisling O’Connor has been Head of Commissioning for BBC England since August 2019. She is responsible for all non-News TV programming in BBC England. Aisling was previously an Executive Producer on BBC Panorama, a Senior Adviser for BBC News and Current Affairs in Editorial Policy, and a network Commissioner for BBC Daytime and Commissioning Executive for BBC Music and Arts.

Sarah Trigg previously headed up all non-scripted editorial production and development output from Wonder Birmingham's regional office.  Before joining Wonder Sarah directed at various UK indies such as RDF and Lion Television on formats for C4, C5, ITV, BBC and Discovery USA.  At Maverick Television Sarah directed, series produced and executive produced some of C4’s biggest brands – 10 Years Younger, BAFTA award-winning Embarrassing Bodies and How to Look Good Naked.

Host

Perjeet Aujla has over twelve years experience in factual TV as an RTS award-winning Series Producer, an Edit Producer and a former Head of Development.  She has won commissions from Channel 4 and Channel 5 and worked on programming as diverse as a mini-Joe Wicks series for 4OD to the Bafta-nominated Cbeebies series Maddie's Do You Know.

Based in Leamington Spa, Perjeet is a champion of the regions and has supported diverse off-screen talent via Creative Access and the Channel 4 Trainee Scheme. She is also an active part of the RTS Midlands committee and a trainer on a ScreenSkills development Researcher scheme, which aims to help 60 people enter the industry.

Event Schedule:

17:55: Please join the webinar waiting room

18:00: Panel in conversation

18:45: Attendee Q&A opens

19:00: Finish

How will the online event work?

This event will be live streamed via Zoom.us. Viewing details will be sent via your confirmation.

Attending participants will not be visible to others and will be muted throughout the session. After the talk, there will be an opportunity for audience members to ask their questions to the panel by using the Q&A feature.

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