Chris Payne

Prior to joining Studio Ramsay Global in July 2023, Chris led Development for BBC Studio’s Top Gear – originating, pitching, and pre-planning ambitious slates of high concept films and foreign specials for the global entertainment motoring format.

Before Top Gear, Chris worked as a Development Exec at RDF Television, and as a Development Producer at North One Television across a broad domestic and international slate of premium factual entertainment and popular specialist factual productions.

Development highlights included Gadget/Travel Man, Guy Martin Vs The Robot Car, and Red Dwarf: The First Three Million Years. A selection of other development team successes included Rock Till We Drop, Lodgers for Codgers, Eddie Eats America and Our Guy in Japan.

Prior to a world of sizzles and development decks, Chris also worked as a Producer across much of North One’s engineering and technology slate – including shows such as Gadget Man, Crash Course: Testing Britain’s Worst Drivers, Stephen Fry’s Greatest Gadgets and The Gadget Show where, amongst many other fantastical ideas, he sent cameras to the edge of space, built the world’s largest game of Tetris, engineered a robotic version of Stephen Fry, and took Richard Ayoade Christmas shopping on Carnaby Street with a bomb disposal robot.