Career Highlights

Vivian McGrath is a highly respected Documentary and Drama/Documentary Executive Producer and Director renowned for her strong sense of storytelling and ability to take extraordinary subjects and make them accessible to ordinary people.

With thirty years’ experience in the television industry, she has a solid reputation for delivering prime time films for major UK, US and Australian broadcasters that are strong in narrative, but also layered with intelligent content and depth.

Vivian is the founder of Redback Productions, through which she produces her own Documentaries and Series. She also does freelance work as an Executive Producer for production companies across the globe, making prime time films for major UK, US and Australian Broadcasters.

Vivian now lives in Hong Kong, having spent four years living in Shanghai, China. Prior to China, she built a highly successful career in the UK. There she worked for more than a decade in London as Executive Producer on high profile and high rating Documentaries and Drama-docs for UK and US broadcasters.

Her return to Hong Kong brings Vivian full circle, as she was based there during the 90s, working for Seven Network Australia as its Asia Correspondent. She later ran the Fox News Asia Bureau, covering major global newsworthy events. But Vivian first cut her teeth in television in Australia where she was born, as a News & Current Affairs Producer/Reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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Feb 2011 – Present
Redback Productions: Founder / Executive Producer / Director (Hong Kong, CHINA)

Programs include:

50 Shades of Silence – 1 x 90 Feature Documentary (Executive Producer)

– (Darieth Chisolm / 50shadesofsilence.com). Emmy Award-winning television personality, former NBC News Anchor, author, and life coach Darieth Chisolm found herself a victim of revenge porn. Her ex flooded the internet with hundreds of naked images of her taken without her consent. Now she’s starting a global movement to fight back against revenge porn, cyber assault, and harassment, giving a voice to other victims like her.

Deadliest Pests Downunder – 20 x 30’ Documentary series (Executive Producer)

– UKTV Dave Channel (UK) (Popkorn TV). Reality format. Can British Pest Controllers used to Moths and Moles make the grade with Aussie Pest Controllers dealing with deadly Crocs, Spiders and Snakes?

 

Ladyboys Series 3 – 4 x 60’ Documentary Series (Executive Producer)

– A Redback production for SKY REAL LIVES (UK). Observational Documentary Series that documents what happens when British plumber Scott, joins forces with Barry, Producer of 80s hit-making band Steps, to put together the World’s First Global Ladyboy Band in Thailand. It takes us deep into the fascinating lives of Transgender women in Thailand.

Children of the Sex Trade – 1 x 60’ Documentary (Executive Producer)

– ABC (Australia) (Abracadabra Films) – a film which follows three former Australian policemen as they try to help rescue children working in the sex trade in the Philippines and hunt down Australian pedophiles who are abusing them.

 

Two Men in China – 3 x 60’ Documentary Series (Series Director)

– ABC (Australia) (Cordell Jigsaw Zapruder) – John Doyle and Professor Tim Flannery go on a road trip in China, to examine China / Australia relations; and to explore the impact of China’s rapid rate of industrialization and urbanization.

 

Ladyboys (Series Two) – 5 x 60’ Documentary Series (Executive Producer)

– A Redback production for SKY LIVING (UK). Observational Documentary Series that takes us into the diverse and entertaining world of Thailand’s Ladyboys. Along the way we find out what it’s truly like to be a Transgender woman and meet the ‘heterosexual’ men in long term relationships with them. Showreel can be see at redbackproductions.co.uk.

 

I’m 16, but look 60 – 1 x 60’ Documentary (Executive Producer)

– Five (UK) (Barcroft Productions) – a British teenager with a medical condition that makes her look middle aged. It examines the complexity of self-image in teenagers.

 

Ladyboys (Series One) – 6 x 60’ Documentary Series (Executive Producer)

– A Redback production for SKY LIVING (UK) – (see Series Two description above). Showreel can be seen at redbackproductions.co.uk.

 

The Boy They Call Fish – 1 x 60’ Documentary (Executive Producer)

– Five (UK) (Barcroft Productions) – Minh Anh, a Vietnamese orphan boy and his extraordinary relationship with a British grandmother and the bond between them that’s healing her grieving heart.

 

I Shouldn’t Be Alive (series 5) – 16 x 60’ Drama Documentary Series (Executive Producer)

– Discovery Channel Animal Planet (US) (DSP) – overseeing the Drama Shoot Scripts and Casting on the US hit series that I previously ran for 2 years (see below).

 

600lb Mom: Race Against Time – 1 x 60’ Documentary (Executive Producer)

– Discovery Channel TLC (US) (Barcroft Productions) – The continuing story of Dominique, a 600lb Mom whose addiction to food ultimately kills her and dominated her children’s lives.

 

The 8-Limbed Boy – 1 x 60’ Documentary (Executive Producer)

– Five (UK) (Barcroft Productions) – an update of an earlier Documentary I made on an Indian boy born with a rare case of Fetus-in-fetu (his identical twin growing inside him).

2009 – Feb 2011
Executive Producer – DSP (UK)

(DSP is one of the UK’s leading independent TV production companies – co-producer of Danny Boyle’s feature film ‘127 Hours’ which was nominated for 6 Oscars).

Programs include:

I Shouldn’t Be Alive (series 3 & 4) – 22 x 60’ Drama-Documentary series (Executive Producer)
– Discovery’s Animal Planet channel (US) – Extraordinary first hand stories of heroic survivals of ordinary people against all odds.

My Kid Survived, a 1 x 60 min Drama-Documentary (Executive Producer)
– Discovery Channel TLC (US) – a spin-off of ‘I Shouldn’t Be Alive’.

911 Kids, a 1 x 90 min Documentary (Executive Producer)
– Channel 4 (UK) / NatGeo (US) – children who lost a parent in 911 – a 10th anniversary special.

The 8-Limbed Boy / The Boy Who Cries Blood / 600lb Mom / My Skin’s Killing Me / the 40-Year-old Toddler etc – a 6 x 60’ Documentary Series (Executive Producer)
– Discovery Channel TLC (US) – ordinary people with extraordinary medical conditions.

2006 – 2009 Founder / Executive Producer – Gecko Productions (UK)

Films include:

CUTTING EDGE: The Girls Who Were Found Alive (Executive Producer)

– Channel 4 (UK) an exclusive access documentary on two young girls who were abducted by a pedophile and miraculously rescued 5 days later.

Cheetah Man – a human-interest natural history documentary (Executive Producer)

– FIVE (UK) – featuring Olivier Houalet, a modern day Tarzan with an extraordinary affinity with wild Cheetahs – for Channel Five (UK).

Ben: Diary of a Heroin Addict (Executive Producer)
– SKY (UK) – an exclusive access A raw and unflinching portrait of one man’s descent into addiction and the impact it had on his middle-class family, shot himself in the last two years of his life.

The Girl in the Box – an exclusive access documentary (Executive Producer)
– Five (UK) – on Colleen Stan who, as a 17-year-old hitchhiker, was kidnapped by a sadistic sexual torturer and held in a box under his bed for 7 years.

Arthur Shawcross: Interview with a Serial Killer (Executive Producer)
– Five (UK) – an exclusive access documentary for Five. The final interview with notorious serial killer Arthur Shawcross in prison – just weeks before his death.

Ex Forces & Homeless (Executive Producer)
– BBC ONE (UK) – authored by ex-SAS Ken Hames who goes on a journey to find out why so many of UK’s homeless are ex-forces and ends up confronting his own demons along the way.

2004 – 2006

Managing Director / Executive Producer – Redback Films (UK)
Prior to Gecko Productions Vivian was Managing Director of Redback Films, owned by The Television Corporation – which made the successful returnable series including ‘Conspiracies…’ with Danny Wallace and documentary series such as ‘Killing Mum & Dad’; ‘Surviving … (Serial Killers)’ and documentaries for SKY ONE: ‘Stoned in Suburbia’.

For Channel 4: ‘Generation 7/7’; ‘Artshock’; ‘A Swinging Murder’ and BODYSHOCK:‘The Eighty-Year-Old Children’ and ‘Kill Me to Cure Me’. At Redback she was also Executive Producer on the three-hour Primetime ABC America exclusive access documentary, ‘The American Imposter’ on Christopher Buckingham who stole his name from a dead baby and faked his identity for 23 years, presented by Martin Bashir.

2000 – 2004

Executive Producer – Mentorn
At Mentorn Vivian created and Executive Produced ‘Twins: the Identity Test’ for BBC ONE – a popular factual programme in search of the most identical, identical twins in Britain. This went on to become the global hit format ‘…. Most Identical’ – sold to around 20 countries.

At Mentorn, she was most known for some of the most high profile and highest rating Channel 4 Body Shock and Five’s Extraordinary People documentaries such as: The Boy Who Gave Birth to his Twin; The Man Who Slept for 19 years; Archie: the Six Stone Baby and The Eighty-Year Old Children.

Other programs include:

The 3-week fast turnaround documentary ‘Tsunami: the Day the Wave Struck’ – for Five and National Geographic in the U.S.

‘Mao’s Children’ – a documentary authored by Marcel Theroux, for Channel 4’s China Season on China’s Generation X.

‘Living Pulse’ – 52 x 30” episodes of a magazine show on cutting-edge medicine, shot globally, for Discovery Channel.

‘EVISION’ – Series Producer / Producer Director – an international magazine show, based on The Economist magazine, working in conjunction with the magazine’s Editor and key journalists.

1993 – 1999 Senior Producer / Foreign Correspondent – Fox News / Newsasia (Hong Kong)

Before coming to the UK in 1999, Vivian was Senior Producer, running the Asia Bureau in Hong Kong for FOX NEWS – covering such global stories as President Bill Clinton’s tours to China, Japan & Korea; the fall of President Suharto in Indonesia; and the NATO bombings of Kosovo.

In Hong Kong – both before and during her time with Fox News, Vivian also ran her own independent news bureau (& corporate video production company), Newsasia, which represented broadcasters across the world, including during the HK handover to China.

Through Newsasia (prior to Fox News) she was a Foreign Correspondent for Channel Seven Australia for 6 years, covering such stories as the British handover of HK to China; the Kobe earthquake in Japan; and the Pope’s visit to Manila, Philippines.

1989 – 1993 Producer / Reporter – ABC (Australia)

In Australia Vivian was a Producer/Reporter on prime time ABC flagship shows ‘The Investigators’ an investigative consumer programme; and ‘The 7.30 Report’, a nightly live current affairs programme.

Public Speaking / Guest Teaching:
Vivian has been a speaker / panelist at various Documentary Film Festivals including:

 The ‘World Science Producers Congress’ – various locations around the world
 The ‘Norwegian Media Festival’ – Bergen, Norway
 The ‘Danish Documentary Festival’ – Copenhagen, Denmark
 The ‘Sheffield Documentary Film Festival’ – Sheffield, UK
 Documentary Filmmakers’ Group – London, England
 The National Film & Television School – London, England

Nationality:

Vivian has Australian, British and Irish citizenship.

Languages:

Conversational Mandarin (Passed HSK Chinese Proficiency Test Levels 3 & 4 – spoken & written)

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