Argonon Ltd is an independent media production & distribution group founded in 2011 by James Burstall, the CEO of Leopard Films. Argonon has offices in London, Los Angeles, New York, Oklahoma, and Glasgow. The group produces and distributes factual entertainment, documentary, reality, arts, drama, and children's programming for various television networks and channels worldwide, although they focus on the UK, US, and Canadian markets. Argonon produces shows such as The Masked Singer UK (ITV), Worzel Gummidge (BBC One), Hard Cell (Netflix), Dispatches (Channel 4), Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard (BBC One) and House Hunters International (HGTV).
History Argonon Group was established in May 2011 when Leopard Films alongside its drama production arm Leopard Drama, New York-based American production division Leopard USA and the company's international distribution arm Leopard International had joined forces with London-based multi-media entertainment production company Remedy Productions into forming a new independent production group as Leopard Films became the factual production label of the new group and Remedy Productions became the group's entertainment label whilst the former's international arm Leopard Distribution was renamed to Argonon Distribution to reflect the establishment of Argonon & would be the main distribution for programmes produced by Argonon's companies as Leopard Films' founder and president James Burstall became the president of the newly formed production group Argonon.
One day later, Argonon's entertainment label Remedy Productions entered the Canadian production operations with the launch of Remedy Productions' new Canadian production division based in Vancouver alongside a Canadian production office in that country and would partner with UK independent production companies that want to operate in that country called Remedy Canada. Remedy's new parent Argonon had appointed former Wall to Wall financial director Stuart Mullin as its CFO of the production group whilst Leopard Films' MD Susie Field became Argonon's managing director. One year later in 2012 following the establishment of Argonon, Remedy Canada the Vancouver Canadian production division of Argonon's entertainment label Remedy Productions was officially launched when Argonon had appointed co-founder of Argonon's entertainment label Remedy Productions & veteran producer Toby Dormer to head Remedy Productions' Canadian production division Remedy Canada as its president with Remedy Canada .
In February 2014, Argonon Group expanded its operations with the acquisition of BAFTA and Emmy award-winning independent factual & documentary production company Windfall Films with its co-founder and CEO David Dugan joining Argonon Group's board of directors.
In March 2017, Argon established two new production companies: the factual entertainment production company Barefaced TV that would produce and create factual entertainment and feature formats for both the UK and international markets as the new company with two former Tellycopter's head of entertainment Rosie Bray and Lucy Golding as co-presidents, and Argonon had partnered with former Lime Pictures non-scripted and vice president Derek McLean and former NBCUniversal head of development and entertainment Daniel Nettleton into forming a multi-genre joint venture production company Bandicoot with the two executived heading the new production company as co-presidents.
In the same year Leopard Pictures invested in Kristian Smith, twice BAFTA winner, as Chief Creative Officer.
In January 2018, Argonon Group had brought London-based production company Like A Shot Entertainment becoming Argonon Group's eleventh production company as Argonon had expanded its American production team in order to grow its international business and had appointed Shirley Escott as its American CCO to head up Argonon's American production units which were Leopard USA and Tough Cookie as Shirley Escott would oversee Argonon's American production companies.
Argonon won the National Winner Award (UK) at the European Awards in 2018 and 2019. Argonon has won 162 awards including Emmys, BAFTAs, and RTS Awards, and received over 280 nominations.
In August 2020, Argonon had expanded its US production operations by launching its American production division named Argonon USA and launched an American production office based in Los Angeles as its first West Coast operation with Argonon's Manhattan-based American production company Leopard USA became a subsidiary of the production group's newly established American production arm as the newly launched American division had appointed former Story Street and Collins Avenue executive Lindsay Schwartz to head Argonon's American production division Argonon USA and its subsidiary Leopard USA as its CCO, Argonon's president and CEO James Bursall would head the new division as president alongside Leopard USA CFO Shirley Escott who had also joined Argonon's American division, Argonon had also promoted corporate controller Matt Widmayer to become Leopard USA New York bureau chief and Livvy Clackett became executive in charge of production of the subsidiary while Jillian Brand remained as senior VP of development of Argonon USA's unit Leopard USA.
In 2020, Argonon acquired a branded video agency, Nemorin Film & Video, bringing Nemorin's CEO Pete Fergusson into the group.
In February 2021, Argonon had launched its factual formats-focused production subsidiary dedicated to factual content for broadcasters both as standalone projects and collaborations called Studio Leo becoming its eight production subsidiary umbrella as the new production subsidiary Studio Leo will be based in London with former Hat Trick Productions factual executive Claire Collinson-Jones becoming Chief Creative Officer of Argonon's new factual formats-focused production subsidiary Studio Leo as the new production subsidiary produced its first commission called 101 Years at Tesco.
In 2022, Argonon partnered with Joe Weinstock to launch a new production company, Rose Rock Entertainment.
The group saw a turnover of £55.6m in 2021. Argonon was listed in the London Stock Exchange "1000 Companies To Inspire Britain 2016" and 2017 reports. Argonon was also listed in the 2016 Sunday Times HSBC Track 200.
Companies (current) Bandicoot TV Bandicoot TV (sometimes credited as Bandicoot Scotland) was founded in 2017 by Derek McLean and Daniel Nettleton as a joint venture with Argonon. Productions include Chase The Case for BBC One, Test Drive for BBC Scotland and ITV's versions of The Masked Singer and spin-off The Masked Dancer.
The Masked Singer is a singing competition based on the Masked Singer franchise and is an ongoing production for Bandicoot. It is directed by Casey Antwis and Simon Staffurth, with Jonathan Ross, Davina McCall, Ken Jeong, and Rita Ora as panellists. In series two, Jeong was replaced by Mo Gilligan and in series six Ora was replaced by Maya Jama. The spin-off series, The Masked Dancer, featured Jonathan Ross, Davina McCall, Mo Gilligan and Oti Mabuse as panellists. Joel Dommett has hosted all series of The Masked Singer and The Masked Dancer.
The Masked Singer won a Royal Television Society Programme Award 2021 in the Entertainment category and an International Emmy Award 2021 in the Non-Scripted Entertainment category.
The Masked Singer Live! tour version of the show was announced by Joel Dommett in an appearance on The One Show in December 2021. The Masked Singer Live! toured the UK throughout 2022. The third series of The Masked Singer premiered on ITV on 1 January 2022.
In February 2022, it was announced that The Masked Singer had been recommissioned by ITV for two further seasons, with fourth series of The Masked Singer premiering on 1 January 2023.
Bandicoot was also behind Peckham's Finest for ITV2. This was an observational documentary series following a diverse group of young people from the area of Peckham, London.
BriteSpark Films BriteSpark Films (also credited as BrightSpark East) launched as a co-venture between documentary film-maker Nick Godwin and the Argonon group in 2013. In 2018, Argonon acquired full ownership of the company, with Godwin staying on as Creative Director. The company produces factual, features, documentary and drama-documentary programming for the international market and has worked with ITV, Channel 5, Channel 4, Shaw Media, Discovery International, and Discovery ID.
Productions include long-running Channel 5 series Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords which focuses on conflicts between landlords and tenants; a portrait of London's jewellers working in the Hatton Garden district called Diamond Geezers and Gold Dealers (for ITV); a programme for Channel 4 called Manchester's Serial Killer? which investigates a spate of suspicious deaths in Manchester's canals; a drama-documentary series for Investigation Discovery called The Wives Did It which profiles murder cases involving polygamy. BriteSpark also produces Incredible Engineering Blunders: Fixed for Discovery International and a madcap, gross-out, comedy game show called What The Yuck?! with Geordie Shore star Nathan Henry.
BriteSpark also produced the Bill Nighy narrated Channel 5 travel documentaries World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys and World's Most Scenic River Journeys, with the latter series co-produced with the Blue Ant-owned Saloon Media in Canada.
BriteSpark also produced several episodes for Channel 4's current affairs strand Dispatches, including Royals for Hire, Deep Fakes: Can You Trust Your Eyes?, Coronavirus: How Britain is Changing, The Prince and the Paedophile and The Truth About Electric Cars.
Leopard Pictures Leopard Pictures was launched in 2017 from the previously titled Leopard Drama. Kristian Smith was appointed Chief Creative Officer.
Their most recent shows were Worzel Gummidge, a two-part children's drama series which aired on BBC1 starring Mackenzie Crook, the animated Mimi And The Mountain Dragon, and The Snow Spider (CBBC & BBC One Wales).
Crook features in the titular role in Worzel Gummidge, while also writing and directing the series. The miniseries is an adaptation of Barbara Euphan Todd's series of books in which the character Worzel Gummidge, a magical scarecrow, appears. Two one-hour specials aired in December 2019, titled The Scarecrow of Scatterbrook and The Green Man. The third one-hour special, titled Saucy Nancy, aired in December 2020. Saucy Nancy won an RTS Craft & Design Award in 2021 in the Sound – Drama category.
In November 2021, a Bonfire Night special of Worzel Gummidge titled Guy Forks, aired. Two further one-hour Worzel Gummidge specials aired on BBC One in December 2021, titled Twitchers and Calliope Jane.
Leopard Pictures' latest production, Hard Cell, starring Catherine Tate was released on Netflix in April 2022.
Leopard USA Leopard USA creates reality, lifestyle, and entertainment programming. From its office in New York City, Leopard USA produces hundreds of hours of programming yearly for television and digital distribution for channels including Facebook, HGTV, DIY, GSN, A&E, TruTV, Speedvision, Discovery, TLC, BBC America, and CNBC. Leopard USA was founded in 2002 and became part of the Argonon group in 2011.
The first programme produced by Leopard USA was Cash in the Attic USA for HGTV.
Leopard USA programming includes HGTV's House Hunters International, with over 2000 episodes and 160 series completed to date. The programme brand has extended to further shows including House Hunters Off the Grid and House Hunters International: The Adventure Continues. House Hunters International won a Critics Choice Real TV Award 2021 for Best Lifestyle: Home/Garden Show.