Celador

Celador is an entertainment company originally formed in 1983 as a UK independent television production company. It created and produced a number of popular light entertainment shows and is best known for the TV format Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and the film Slumdog Millionaire, which, in 2009, collected seven BAFTAs, four Golden Globes and eight Oscars including Best Director and Best Picture.^[1]

Celador owns twenty UK commercial radio stations.

The name Celador is a re-spelling of "cellar door", a phrase whose sound is often noted to be particularly euphonious.

History

Celador was founded by Paul Smith CBE and included Jasper Carrott as one of its founder shareholders. After establishing itself as a leading UK production company it expanded into TV format licensing, film production and radio station ownership and operation. In 2006 Celador International and the rights and associated properties of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? were acquired by Dutch group 2waytraffic. Celador Productions' management completed a buy out of the company.

In 2004 Celador commenced legal action against The Walt Disney Company for what it claimed were unpaid profits from Disney's licensing of the programme in the US. At a trial by jury in Los Angeles in June 2010 Celador was awarded $269m (£177m) in damages after ruling it failed to receive a fair share of profits.^[2]

Celador Entertainment

Television

• All About Me BBC
• The Detectives BBC
• Many Jasper Carrott stand up shows, such as Canned Carrott
• You Are What You Eat Channel 4
• It's Been a Bad Week BBC Radio 2 topical comedy starring Steve Punt, Hugh Dennis, Sue Perkins, Mitch Benn & Toby Longworth
• The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna
• National Lottery Winning Lines
• Richard Digance's Greatest Bits
• Commercial Breakdown
• Talking Telephone Numbers
• Winning Lines

Films

• Dirty Pretty Things (2002) directed by Stephen Frears and starring Audrey Tautou and Chiwetel Ejiofor
• Separate Lies (2005) written and directed by Julian Fellowes and starring Emily Watson, Tom Wilkinson and Rupert Everett
• The Descent (2006) directed by Neil Marshall and starring Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora-Jane Noone and MyAnna Buring
• Slumdog Millionaire (2009)^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]}
• The Descent Part 2 (2009)
• The Scouting Book for Boys (2010)
• Centurion (2010)

Celador Radio

The current portfolio of stations comprises:

The Breeze Network

• The Breeze (Andover)
• The Breeze (Bristol)
• The Breeze (Basingstoke & North Hampshire)
• The Breeze (Bath)
• The Breeze (Bridgwater & West Somerset)
• The Breeze (Cheltenham & North Gloucestershire)
• The Breeze (East Hampshire & South West Surrey)
• The Breeze (Frome & West Wiltshire)
• The Breeze (Newbury)
• The Breeze (North Dorset)
• The Breeze (North Somerset)
• The Breeze (Portsmouth)
• The Breeze (Southampton)
• The Breeze (South Devon)
• The Breeze (Winchester)
• The Breeze (Yeovil & South Somerset)

Sam FM Stations

• Sam FM (Bristol)
• Sam FM (South Coast)
• Sam FM (Swindon)^[15]

Other stations

• Fire Radio (Bournemouth and Poole)

People

Paul Smith CBE, is Chairman of Celador Entertainment Limited which is the parent company for Celador Films, Celador Radio, Celador Theatrical and Lusam Music.

Following the new structure of Celador's previous constituent divisions, Celador Productions, (renamed CPL Productions) is now run by managing director (since 2003) Danielle Lux. Christian Colson left Celador Films as Managing Director in 2009 to form Cloud Nine Films, now renamed Cloud Eight Films.

References

External links

• Celador Entertainment
• The Breeze
• Sam FM