Women in Film and TV reveals production management programme cohort

UK's Women in Film and TV (WFTV) has named Fahima Chowdhury, Helen Bullough, Melanie Rainbow, Lynsey Palmer and Nicole Forrest as the 2025 cohort of the Julie Burnell Scholarship: WFTV Production Management Programme.

The programme is supported by the ScreenSkills High-end TV Skills Fund with contributions from UK TV productions and offers four women from the north of England who are working in production management and line producing the opportunity to accelerate their careers and develop as industry leaders.

The cohort includes:

• Fahima Chowdhury, who is Newcastle based and has an established track record as a line producer on projects including BBC/Boffola's The Power of Parker. Fahima also line produced ITV/Silverpoint's Vera from 2014, and co-produced the final two series.
• Nicole Forrest, a north-west based production manager with experience in HETV, continuing drama, comedy and children’s television. She most recently worked as production manager on BBC/Boffola's The Power of Parker season two. Her previous credits include BBC/Red Planet's Death In Paradise season 13, BBC/Rope Ladder Fiction's Waterloo Road season 11 and BBC/Lookout Point's Happy Valley season three.
• Mel Rainbow, based in the north-east, is an experienced production manager specialising in premium unscripted and now pivoting into drama production. Recent projects include heading Fulwell 73's North Office while overseeing Nicola Payne: The Never Ending Murder (Amazon/Fulwell 73).
• Lynsey Palmer, a Newcastle-based production manager for C5/ Lonesome Pine Productions Family Secrets. Lynsey’s previous credits include ITV/Hera Pictures' I Fought The Law, and ITV/Quay Street Productions' The Red King.

The programme is led by Helen Bullough, WFTV’s north of England mentoring producer, and is made possible with the support of ScreenSkills, in tribute to the late Julie Burnell, former head of production for drama at ITV Studios.