Former head of the Film Four Lab Robin Gutch has joined UK TV production company Blast! Films to launch a film arm.

Gutch, who will sit on the company's board, will develop features and drama projects for the company.

Blast! Is known for edgy documentary and docudrama fare such as Penny Woolcock's films about residents of a Leeds housing estate, Tina Goes Shopping and Tina Takes A Break, and Saul Dibb and Marc Isaacs' series about shoplifting, Lifters.

Rising writer-director Woolcock is based at the company, which is run by managing director and filmmaker Edmund Coulthard, producer and head of production Madonna Baptiste and producer Mark Hayhurst

Gutch built a strong a reputation for backing new talent such as Jump Tomorrow's Joel Hopkins and My Brother Tom's Dom Rotheroe during his four years at the Lab, the low-budget wing of FilmFour.