Bedlam Productions, the UK company that was the starting force behind The King’s Speech, has hired Simon Breen as creative director.

The London-based company expands with the addition of Breen, who will work on factual projects for television.

Bedlam will develop a slate of feature documentaries which will appeal to a wide international audience.

He will report to Bedlam MD Simon Egan and CEO Gareth Unwin.

Breen previously worked with Egan and Unwin on the BBC series Citizen Smith and Michael Smith’s Drivetime. He also collaborated with Egan on Channel 4’s TheBeginner’s GuidesTo…series.

“What better way to start the year than with a slew of nominations and a premier league signing in the form of Simon Breen,” said Egan. “With almost 20 years of experience working for major networks including the BBC, Channel 4 and MTV, I am excited about Simon working with Bedlam to build and shape our television output in 2011.”

Breen added: “Simon and Gareth inviting me to join the company at such an exciting time is deeply humbling . We’ve built up a great understanding through our collaborations over the past six or seven years and I am confident that together, our combined energy, ideas and expertise will mark out 2011 as an acceleration point in the quality and breadth of Bedlam’s television output.”
 
Breen was previously based in Hong Kong and New York, where he worked for MTV Networks. His recent UK projects include Addiction TV, Killing Ants, Pulse Films and Roast Beef.