Charlie Parsons has had a huge, positive impact on the international creative and media sector and changed the face of television with his trailblazing hits, and especially with Survivor one of television’s biggest success stories- now about to embark on its 50th season on CBS in the US.

Survivor is a huge worldwide success, winning awards and viewers all over the world - in the US alone, the show has won seven Emmy awards and received over 70 Emmy nominations. It was so innovative that when it began over 25 years ago, there was no category for reality television! Survivor was television’s first reality television show - which is why Charlie is widely regarded as being the Godfather of the genre. Survivor has 700+ episodes and counting - almost every other successful show ever made has had fewer episodes.

Before Survivor became a global phenomenon, Charlie is responsible for some of the most revolutionary shows in British television, shows such as The Word, and The Big Breakfast. Like Survivor, these shows have cult followings and changed the face of television; they also were the launch pad for many household names including Chris Evans, Gaby Roslin, Lisa Tarbuck, Johnny Vaughan, and Denise Van Outen. He was co-founder of one of television’s most influential production companies Planet 24, with Bob Geldof and Waheed Alli.

Now Charlie owns and runs one of Europe’s most exciting theatre production companies, Runaway Entertainment - a creative powerhouse developing and producing ideas for the stage, such as the highly acclaimed Olivier and Tony award winning Girl from the North Country, a play written by Conor McPherson with music by Bob Dylan, The Hunger Games on Stage, and 2:22 A Ghost Story. As a producer with a expertise in shaping and driving storytelling, Charlie is second to none.

Charlie is also one of the founders of Troubadour Theatres , a company which designs and builds versatile entertainment spaces. Just as in television, he built special studios to satisfy the creativity of his ambitious and large scale shows, Troubadour builds and designs iconic spaces, to accommodate the unique creative needs of each production. Most recently, the company built the 2000-seater Troubadour Canary Wharf for The Hunger Games on Stage and is about to embark on building a new Troubadour space in Greenwich, London.

Charlie founded The Great BBC Campaign, set up to provide a bold ambitious new mandate for the BBC, designed to build on the success of the impartial and independent broadcasting organisation.

Before setting up Planet 24, Charlie studied English at Pembroke College, Oxford and trained as a journalist. He worked at London Weekend Television on programmes including Network 7, which won a BAFTA award for originality.  Trained as a journalist, he occasionally contributes to the BBC, Guardian and the Financial Times. He is a patron of the London Film School.