Ian O’Reilly
Producer / Director
BBC News – Our World
Ian’s career in journalism began in 1994 when he joined BBC News as a researcher. Ian spent his first two years at the BBC working on Breakfast News learning the trade and the craft of television journalism.
In 1996 Ian was promoted to the role of producer in the BBC’s World Affairs Unit where he soon established a partnership with BBC special correspondent Sue Lloyd-Roberts. Sue & Ian pioneered the use of camcorders in television journalism and also specialised in the “dark art” of secret filming. For about ten years Sue & Ian travelled the world reporting extensively, mainly for the Ten O’Clock News and Newsnight, on issues such as human rights, the environment and autocratic regimes – along the way winning a number of awards, largely for their work in Burma, Zimbabwe and eastern Europe.
Ian has also worked with a number of the BBC’s other leading journalists including Martin Bell, Lyse Doucet,Fergal KeaneandZeinab Badawi.
In 2006 Ian joined the BBC’s News Channels Programme Unit to work on the international interview programme Hardtalk. As well as working on the daily programme, Ian has produced & directed a number of location series (middle east, southern African, Australia and Europe). During this time Ian has continued to make one or two films each year, usually for Newsnight and the Our World documentary strand, and has also produced several editions of the BBC’s World Debate programme from locations as diverse asCape Town,Accra andPort of Spain.
In 2009 Hardtalk presenter Stephen Sackur and Ian developed a new strand of the programme called Hardtalk on the road – a blend of inquisitive documentary and hard hitting location interview – so far Stephen and Ian have made four (3 x part) series in this new and exciting strand: eastern Congo, Greenland, Sri Lanka & Australia.