Alumnae evening with Nicola Shindler

3rd January 2024 by Natalie Burns

Back to Alumnae evening with Nicola Shindler

Women of the Year Alumnae Club hosts an evening with Nicola Shindler, Executive Producer and Chief Executive of Quay Street Productions, hosted by ITV presenter Michelle Eagleton.

The Women of the Year Alumnae Club hosts events throughout the year and includes a vibrant programme of regional events – this time visiting Manchester and the iconic Coronation Street set and experience. Facilitated by former WOYR Chair Jane Luca from ITV and organised with the support of Alumna Club administrator Gill Branston and Management Committee Members Lorraine Clinton and Sally Sykes, the evening event consisted of an interview with award-winning TV producer Nicola Schindler talking about her life, career and creative partnerships with, amongst others, Russell T Davies and Happy Valley’s Sally Wainwright.

Responsible for some of TV’s most groundbreaking dramas in the past two decades, tackling societal issues and making spell-binding television, Nicola also talked about her latest drama Nolly starring Helen Bonham-Carter and showed clips from this and her impressive body of television work.

Starting her career as a script editor, Nicola is a prolific, multi-award-winning British television producer, who has worked with some of the most lauded names in television and created some of its most memorable series. Prior to launching Quay Street Productions (part of ITV Studios) in 2021, Nicola founded RED Production Company in 1998, where she was Chief Executive for 22 years.

With over 25 years’ experience in television, she has produced some of the UK’s most successful and award-winning dramas, including Years and Years, Happy Valley, Queer As Folk, Traces, Last Tango in Halifax, It’s a Sin, Butterfly and most recently Harlan Coben’s The Stranger.

Renowned for her relationships with writers, Nicola has worked with an array of the UK’s most prolific and exciting writing talent including Russell T Davies, Sally Wainwright, Lenny Henry, Paul Abbott, Dan Sefton, Tony Marchant, Amelia Bullmore, Danny Brocklehurst, Matt Greenhalgh and Sarah Solemani, on series starring some of the world’s leading on-screen names.  In 2019, Nicola was awarded an OBE and took home one of BAFTA’s highest honours, the Special Award, for her services to British Broadcasting.

Over 100 Alumnae Club members attended the event, kindly sponsored by Hill Dickinson solicitors.  Guests were treated not only to Nicola and Michelle in a fascinating ‘in conversation’ evening, but also to a tour of the Coronation Street Experience and a chance to walk the famous cobbles of ‘The Street’.