Red Production Company

Red Production Company is a British independent television production company, formed in 1998 by Nicola Shindler, an experienced television producer who had worked on such prestige dramas as Our Friends in the North and Cracker. Based at MediaCityUK in Manchester in the north of England, Red's first production was the controversial drama Queer as Folk, written by Russell T Davies and based on the lives of three gay men in the city. This was screened on Channel 4 in early 1999 and drew much comment and praise.

The same year, Red followed this up with another series for Channel 4, an anthology of six half-hour plays about love entitled Love in the 21st Century. Queer as Folk 2 arrived in 2000, and since then Red has expanded to produce acclaimed dramas for nearly all of the main British television channels. The company's success led to an attempt by Granada Television — in whose Quay Street building the company rented offices — to buy it, but Shindler turned down their offer, wanting to retain control of her own company.

In December 2013, it was announced that Shindler had sold a majority stake Red to the French media company StudioCanal.^[1]