Henrietta Hurford-Jones, the creative director for indies at BBC Studios Kids & Family, will be departing after 13 and a half years at the BBC’s production and distribution arm.

With a deep knowledge of the kids biz and a flair for shaping powerhouse preschool brands, Hurford-Jones was instrumental in sourcing, developing and executive producing kids content for the global CBeebies branded services and later, the seven-plus age group. She also worked closely with the wider commercial business, including content distribution, licensing, publishing and music.

During her time at the BBC, she notably co-commissioned and executive produced the preschool phenomenon Bluey, as well as series like Hey Duggee, Go Jetters and Supertato. 

Her last day at the company will be near the end of January next year. “From February 2024, after nearly 14 great years with BBC Studios, I’m taking a few months off to recharge the batteries,” Hurford-Jones says, adding that she will reveal her future plans next year. 

Prior to BBC, Hurford-Jones spent two years as director of international kids and family at UK distributor RDF Rights. This was preceded by a gig as director of programming for Europe and LatAm at Jetix (formerly Fox Kids Europe) from 2000 to 2005. And in the ’90s, she served as the head of sales at London’s HIT Entertainment for six years. 

She began her BBC tenure in 2010, joining BBC Worldwide (the commercial arm at the time) as CBeebies’ director of commissioning and editorial. She worked with production companies to create locally and globally relevant stories for the network in the UK and internationally, including in Africa, Australia, Asia and the Middle East. 

In 2011, she commissioned the 2D-animated series Sarah & Duck from Karrot Animation to air on CBeebies international channels. As part of a deal between the studio and BBC Worldwide, she also secured global distribution and merchandising rights to the show.

BBC Worldwide promoted her in 2012 to director of children’s content to oversee the editorial and commercial negotiations of all new productions. In 2016, Hurford-Jones and ABC’s Michael Carrington would go on to discover the popular Aussie toon Bluey at the 2016 Asian Animation Summit. She was instrumental in setting up the global deal with Disney for the megahit series, working closely with the BBC Studios’ US team.

“For the past 13 years, [Henrietta] has been responsible for bringing some of the world’s most beloved children’s brands to BBC Studios’ door,” says Cecilia Persson, managing director of the kids and family division. “We are so grateful for all her creative input and accomplishments across all these titles and wish her the very best of luck with her next challenge.”