Louise Thornton

Louise is Head of Commissioning for BBC Scotland, responsible for devising and delivering a commissioning strategy to create great content across radio, tv, online and social for all audiences in Scotland. Louise works across all of Scotland’s scripted, unscripted and sport programming and heads up a talented multiplatform and multigenre team.

She has worked in and out of the BBC since 2002 and has a background in multiplatform production, ranging from linear television programmes to interactive games and short form viral content. Louise has a strong track record in public service broadcasting, working as an editorial lead in Learning for several years and she is one of the founders of the award winning talent development platform BBC The Social.

Louise has worked in Commissioning since 2018 and was part of the team responsible for launching the BBC Scotland channel. She has a keen interest in developing new talent, creating formats across platforms and has a passion for Scotland and all it has to offer. She has numerous television and digital credits across the genres to her name, is one of the co-creators of BBC The Social and has a track record of commissioning award winning podcasts such as Who Killed Emma?, The Missing Madonna and Trumped. In her time as Head of Commissioning, she has been responsible for delivering on Scotland’s network co-commissioning strategy for tv which has resulted in factual series such as Murder Trial, Designing the Hebrides and Body on the Beach, dramas Guilt, Granite Harbour and Mayflies, and scripted comedies Dinosaur and Only Child. Louise also looks after Sport for BBC Scotland and is committed to delivering on multiplatform coverage for both men and women’s sport.