Claudia Rosencrantz

Rosencrantz joined ITV in 1995 with responsibility for commissioning around 500 hours of prime-time entertainment programming a year, encompassing variety and talk shows, music specials and game shows. Her first major breakthroughs were Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Popstars and Pop Idol, which "changed the fortunes" not only of ITV but of two of the biggest US networks, ABC and Fox.[4][5] Her next generation of entertainment events, I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, Hell's Kitchen, The X Factor and Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway remain some of ITV's highest rated shows. She is credited with shifting presenters Ant & Dec from children's television to an entertainment double act for a general audience, and for putting Simon Cowell on television.

She was also responsible for running ITV's entertainment talent roster – a list that included Cowell, Ant & Dec, Chris Tarrant, Michael Parkinson, Sharon Osbourne, Paul O'Grady, Gordon Ramsay, Davina McCall, and Harry Hill. Before her departure at the end of 2005, she had also commissioned Soapstar Superstar, Dancing on Ice, Love Island, Harry Hill's TV Burp and Britain's Got Talent which have all proved successful for ITV.

In April 2006 Rosencrantz was appointed director of programming for Living TV, which she re-branded as LIVING, LIVING 2 and FTN. In 2007 she became Director of Television for Virgin Media Television (VMTV), taking over responsibility for the creative strategy for all the channels across the portfolio, including Living TV, Bravo, Challenge and Trouble. She launched Virgin 1 in October 2007 and re-positioned Bravo in 2009. She became part of the management team that ran the company.

When Rosencrantz joined Living TV, the channel had already broadcast Jade's Salon, featuring Jade Goody, a contestant in the third series of Big Brother, and was in production with a second series, Just Jade, following Goody as she launched a perfume range. Then in the autumn of 2006 came Jade's PA and then Bigg Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother, in August 2008. Goody heard the diagnosis of her terminal condition, cervical cancer, on screen. The series of documentaries broadcast leading up to Jade's Wedding, transmitted on 12 March, brought the highest ratings in the history of the Livings channel.

In 2009 VMTV enjoyed a successful year, in which Living TV commissioned the series Four Weddings, Dating in the Dark and Living with My Idol featuring Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff, among others.

In 2010 Living received up the RTS Award for the series Dating in the Dark. It also won the Broadcast Award for Four Weddings. Living also made the supermodel Elle Macpherson the host on the series Britain's Next Top Model.

Rosencrantz was responsible for commissioning Living's first original drama, Bedlam starring Will Young and Theo James, which was taken into a second series.

In 2010, Virgin Media sold their portfolio of Virgin channels to BSkyB for £160 million. Living was renamed Sky Living, alongside the new channel Sky Atlantic.[6] Journalist Maggie Brown of The Guardian broke the story that Rosencrantz had decided to leave post-integration of the channels as she felt there was no suitable role for her in the new structure at Sky.[7]

On Rosencrantz's departure, the Virgin chief executive was quoted as saying:

Claudia is the real deal. She's made Living a glossy, premium destination for A-list talent and true break-out hits. She has the courage and critical eye to back an original idea, combined with the clarity and drive to create real commercial success. Claudia has transformed the channels, and has done so with her trademark package of unerring grace and wicked wit.[8]