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Ruth Wrigley is a highly experienced award-winning TV producer, having worked in the industry for over 30 years. Her impressive portfolio of acclaimed productions includes Big Brother, The Only Way Is Essex, and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria, among many others. Ruth now devotes her time to mentoring entrepreneurial working mothers while also writing a book on her experiences as a single mum at the helm of some of television’s biggest shows - with plans brewing for what she believes will be ‘the next big thing’ when it comes to reality TV!

1. Tell us about your journey. How did you get here?

I am married and have two grown-up daughters (31 and 33), both successful working mums themselves, and three grown-up stepchildren. I am a Grandma to five. I started my career as a journalist, moving into radio and then TV in my early twenties, quickly rising through the ranks – until I dared to have children.

Despite my business success B.C. (Before Children) I couldn’t believe how hard it was to be a working mum and how many obstacles I faced. I felt unsupported and undervalued and was definitely not on any immediate promotion trajectory once I returned to work. I was even told I should count myself lucky to have any job at all, particularly as I had «taken six months off” to have a baby! This is no joke, and I am saddened that 30 years later, not much has changed. Working mothers are still expected to function in workplace systems largely built by men, for men.

2. How do your values show up in the work you do?

My mantra whilst working in TV production was, «It›s only tele, no one dies”. What I mean by that is that it is possible to do your job – your big job – and have a life, too – just keep things in perspective and work on your own terms. Women returning to work can feel overwhelmed by the demands of the workplace – particularly as they are usually thrown in at the deep end with no allowances made for the huge life changes they have gone through. I go out of my way to employ women with kids as I find them to be hard working, committed and all-around brilliant. They just get on with things, and there›s no faffing around (they always have somewhere else to be).

It is simple to get the best out of working mums -just listen to what they say they need in order to do their job rather than impose any existing structure on them. In my book, I reveal my own experiences and battles and hope the solutions I found will inspire others to do the same. Most career women know how to make their job work when they return after starting a family – it›s just that no one is listening to them. In my coaching and mentoring sessions, I try to get working mums to recognise their true value and kick back against anything or anyone trying to hold them back or make them feel less.

How would you describe your business success so far?

I have had a lot of business success so far, and many awards to prove it, and I actually put a lot of my success down to being a working mum. Yes, it was challenging at times, but it made me a better manager, better at delegating and at negotiating (if you can negotiate with a 2-year-old – a business deal is easy!) and most importantly, it gave me a different perspective, which in turn led to innovative, new ways of doing things, both practically and creatively.

I pride myself on being first and being different. If something doesn’t work for me, I question it rather than just accept „that›s the way it has to be”. Having kids taught me what›s important in life and how to dig deep to find energy reserves I didn’t know I possessed. It also taught me to know my own worth. TV is still dominated by an Eton/ Oxbridge male elite. I am a working-class single mum from Birmingham with a loud and different voice, and it took having kids to give me the confidence to use it. My superpower is that I don›t care what others think of me. This allows me to be brave and take risks. Sometimes I make mistakes and fall flat on my face, and it can, on occasions, make me unpopular. But on the whole, it makes for a breath of fresh air and big hit shows!

What have you enjoyed most about some of the shows you have created?

What I enjoyed most about the shows I created was being first and being different. Big Brother had been a hit in Holland and Germany before it came to the UK. But up until then it was a relatively small show on small channels. In fact, people forget that the first ever series of Big Brother in the UK was on Channel 4 at 11 pm at night. The work I did on the format to make it more compelling in terms of storytelling and bigger in terms of an event ,even proposing the first ever Celebrity Big Brother was deliciously satisfying because I was told, repeatedly, by Dutch men in suits, that my ideas wouldn›t work. To do follow my instincts and be proved right was a real game-changer for me, for the TV industry, and for celebrity culture as we know it today. From then on I stopped doubting myself.

What I enjoyed most about getting TOWIE commissioned was the fact that the idea for it was partly inspired by my kids. At the time, they were no longer watching Big Brother and instead were hooked on an American series called The Hills. I didn›t get it – I could see how „set up „some of the scenes were and said so. They said, „Mum, we don›t care, these people are real’, and that gave me the idea for a show, which is essentially using real peoples› life stories, where the emotion on display is always real, even if «some scenes are set up for your entertainment.”

The other thing I particularly enjoyed was working as the head of a large team. Running a big show and producing so many hours of television meant I had to delegate a lot. I couldn›t be across all things at all times. I found my reward inspiring other people to rise to a challenge, giving them the confidence to do a job they had never done before or weren›t sure they were up to. I always try to employ people I think are better than me – on the basis that they only ever make you look good. You are only as good as your team, and I have worked with some of the best teams in the business, many of whom are still key players in television in this country and across the globe.

How do you manage your time between family and business?

I think each working parent has to find their own way of managing their time between business and family. For some, it›s working longer days or a shorter week. For others, it›s the flexibility to work whenever, late at night, early mornings, weekends, in order to be available to their family at other times and still get their work done. For me, it was making sure I got proper time off between projects. The nature of my role meant when I worked, it was all consuming, and the only way I could deal with the demands was knowing it was a finite and I would have downtime when I needed it. I worked out very quickly. I couldn›t do it on a three-day week or an average nine to five, so I always made sure I negotiated time out to recover physically and mentally and be with my children. I loved my job, but I also loved being a mum, and I organised things so that I could do both. Key to this, though, was ditching the ‹mum guilt›.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

In my spare time, I love anything to do with being outside – preferably on or near water. I live near the sea, swim in it regularly, and have a boat and beach hut. My mantra now is- if in doubt, go out! I am a big kid at heart, and being close to nature makes me happy and keeps things in perspective. If I have a problem or an idea I need to develop, a long walk or long swim helps unravel my brain. I also love a bit of yoga to completely switch off. Ironically, the other thing I enjoy is watching TV. I am still absolutely fascinated by it and will watch as many hours of it as I can on any given day. I am a real pain to watch it with, though, as I often shout at the screen or predict what is going to happen next. I can›t quite take off my producer’s hat, and it drives my family bonkers!

Who or what inspires you?

I am inspired by anything new and different, risky and groundbreaking. The person who›s inspired me the most in my life is my Dad. He gave me and my sisters the confidence to do and be whatever we wanted to be, underpinned by the idea that if it all went wrong, we could come home – and for me, that wasn›t so bad. I didn›t understand how rare that was at the time (it was the 1970s when young girls like me weren›t expected to amount to much), and he gave me the confidence to take risks and believe in myself. For that, I will always be grateful.

The person who inspired and helped me the most in my TV career was Sir Peter Bazalgette, who ran Endemol, the company that made Big Brother. He is now chair of ITV. Like, my Dad, he encouraged me to take risks, backed me up and judged me on my talent and skill, not according to my sex or how many kids I had. He didn›t care how I did my job, as long as I did it. He trusted me, and as a result, he got the best out of meand in return, I delivered the biggest show on TV. Other business chiefs would do well to learn from him. ■

Ruth Wrigley