Sophie Leonard

At Samphire Films, we create bold, ambitious factual content with a global reach, from premium documentary series to major entertainment formats. We’re already in production on commissioned documentary series and are developing big, global formats for both domestic and international partners.

I love telling great stories across all genres, whether it’s a pop culture phenomenon, a multi-layered crime story, landmark documentary or a new factual format. 

Before founding Samphire Filsm with David, I was Creative Director at multi-award-winning Minnow Films, where I executive produced over 200 hours of primetime, premium factual television for terrestrial broadcasters, global streamers, American networks, and cable. My credits span the breadth of factual storytelling - from constructed factual series like Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test (Fox), SAS: Who Dares Wins and Celebrity Who Dares Wins (C4), Stacey Dooley’s DNA Family Secrets (BBC), Ibiza Dreams (BBC), talent fronted singles like Katie Price: Harvey & Me (BBC), Children Who Kill with Susanna Reid (ITV), Sue Perkins and the Chimp Sanctuary (BBC), Tom Allen’s Big Gay Wedding (BBC), and premium limited series, one-off docs and feature docs for both linear channels and streamers including Mother Teresa: For the Love Of God (Sky Documentaries), Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock n Roll (BBC/PBS), Picasso: The Beauty and The Beast (BBC), Manhunt (C4), Valley and Canny Cops (BBC), The Yorkshire Job Centre (C4), The Case of Sally Challen (BBC), Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies and Scandal (#1 on Netflix) and Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action (#1 on Netflix).


Creative Director