Our team

Samantha Anstiss

Chief Creative Officer

Samantha Anstiss is the BAFTA, Grierson and RTS award-winning Chief Creative Officer at Wonderhood. Previously she was a BBC Documentary Commissioner and Creative Director responsible BAFTA-winning Life and Death Row, BAFTA-nominated Keeping Britain Alive and BBC Two’s Amazing Hotels. Since co-founding Wonderhood Studios, Samantha has executive produced BAFTA-nominated Baby Surgeons (C4), premium box set series The Devils Advocate and Scouting for Girls - The Dark Side of Fashion (Sky Documentaries), Heston’s Marvellous Menu (BBC Two) and Trump in Tweets (BBC Three/iPlayer), Inside The Balmoral Hotel (C5) and The Airport (BBC One) amongst other titles. She commissioned hit series The Call Centre, Pound Shop Wars, and Iceland-Life Behind a Freezer Cabinet. As an award-winning current affairs executive producer she produced documentaries on Obama, Blair, Diana, Bin Laden, 9/11 and 7/7.

Lianne Hickey

Director of Production and Operations

Lianne joined Wonderhood in 2022, supporting the delivery of high impact reputational documentaries, premium factual box sets and global formats, and has worked across programmes such as Evacuation (CH4), Super Surgeons (CH4), The Kidnap of Angel Lynn, Dodi (CH5) & Fur Babies (CH4) and has supported growth towards being voted best emerging indie. With over 25 years experience in Television, Lianne has worked on various Emmy, RTS and Broadcast award winning shows and a BAFTA nomination for the Rap Game UK. She was previously Head of Production at Naked Television where she worked across the slate with programmes including Manson the Lost tapes, Grand Designs, The Apprentice, Ghislaine, Prince Andrew and the Paedophile, The Unofficial Science of Home Alone and Planet Sex with Cara Delevigne. Previously as Head of Production at Firecracker Films Lianne oversaw productions including Single Mums Club, Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and Secret Life of the Human Pups. Earlier in her career she worked on shows such as Scrapheap Challenge, The Alps Murders, and Meet the Hasselhoffs.

Tom Garton

Director of Development

Tom joined Wonderhood Studios in March 2019 as a Development Executive. At Wonderhood, he developed and produced the drama-documentary series Devil’s Advocate (Sky Documentaries) charting the life of the fake lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano. Before Wonderhood Studios, Tom worked at Dragonfly, Pulse Films, and the BBC, where he developed and produced a range of critically acclaimed series and single films. He has also worked in factual drama developing major scripted projects with award-winning screenwriters, and once wrote questions for the hit quiz show Pointless.

Hattie Wood

Head of Talent

Hattie joined Wonderhood in April 2023 and staffs up all our productions, both on the editorial and production management sides. Hattie was previously Head of Talent at Wall to Wall and Twenty Twenty, staffing up productions for all the major broadcasters across a variety of genres. Before moving into talent managing she was a Senior Producer, PD and Edit Producer in production and development. She worked across a variety of factual programming, from obs doc series including 24 Hours in A&E (Channel 4), Teens (Channel 4) and Tourettes: Let Me Entertain You (BBC Three), to formats such as Young Apprentice (BBC One) and Four Rooms (Channel 4). She trained in-house at the BBC on the flagship documentary strand One Life.

Tom Anstiss

Executive Producer

Tom joined Wonderhood Studios in 2021. He created the highly acclaimed format My Grandparents’ War. The first season with Helena Bonham Carter, Mark Rylance, Carey Mulligan and Kristin Scott Thomas was broadcast across the globe on Channel 4, PBS, SBS and CBC. Tom is now working with some of Hollywood’s biggest names on season 2.

In 2020, Tom was an executive producer at Vice on the 8-part series ‘Criminal Planet’ which was acquired by Canal Plus, SBS and All4. Tom worked for several years at Wild Pictures. As an Executive Producer, he oversaw 4 seasons of ITV’s Fraud Squad, BBC Two’s ‘Army: Behind the New Frontlines’ and films which won the Amnesty International Award and were nominated for RTS and Broadcast awards. With over 25 years’ experience, Tom has made factual series with major public organisations from Britain's Armed Forces to global law enforcement agencies. He’s also worked with international brands on AFP projects.

Casey McConnell

Production Manager

Casey is currently Production Manager on the second series of Super Surgeons (Ch4), since joining Wonderhood Studios in 2019, she's worked across a range of productions such as BAFTA-nominated Evacuation (Ch4), Super Surgeons (Ch4), My Grandparents War (CH4) The Balmoral: Scotland's Finest Hotel (Channel 5), Covid: Our Lockdown in Shanghai (Smithsonian Channel) and Grierson 2021 Award Nominated Baby Surgeons: Delivering Miracles (Channel 4). Prior to joining Wonderhood Studios, Casey was at the BBC working on two series of Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby with Samantha Anstiss and afterwards a few years with Children in Need and Comic Relief.

Kat Shearwood

Development Producer

Kat Shearwood joined Wonderhood as a Development Producer in 2021, helping to grow the popular factual slate. Before Wonderhood Studios, Kat worked at Twenty Twenty and BBC Three where she developed and produced a range of series including, David Beckham: Save Our Squad (Disney+), Hot Property (BBC Three), and Heartbreak Holiday (BBC Three). Kat was also part of a team which developed social content within the BBC, which resulted in her career highlight – walking down the runway on the set of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.