Naga Munchetty

Naga Munchetty is a seasoned and tenacious journalist and broadcaster.

Her career as a journalist began at the Evening Standard and The Observer newspapers and soon moved into reporting for Reuters Financial Television. Her love of financial matters, news and television led her to CNBC Europe where she became an Executive Producer. She has also worked as a Producer and Reporter for Channel 4 News, before becoming an anchor for Bloomberg Television. There she fronted a daily show and regularly grilled major CEOs and Central Bankers. In 2008 Naga moved to the BBC to front BBC2’s Working Lunch and subsequently the European Breakfast programme for BBC World News.

Golf is one of Naga’s passions and she plays as much as she can, she plays off a handicap of 6. In 2013, Naga was crowned the winner of Celebrity Mastermind on the subject of The Ryder Cup – she answered every question correctly on her pet subject.

In 2014, she was named by the Asian Power List as one of the UK’s most powerful Asian females. In 2018, she collected ‘the ‘Media Personality of the Year’ award at the Asian Media Awards.

Naga is a supporter of many charities and causes close to her heart, including mental health, education, women’s rights and animal welfare.

She is always keen to combine a love of sport with taking on fresh challenges – she ran the 2013 London Marathon and in 2015 took to two wheels completing the Women V Cancer Ride The Night 100km cycling ride. Naga recently returned to the saddle completing a gruelling London to Paris bike ride and the 100 mile Prudential Ride London event.

Naga was one of the judges for The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, 2016, and in the same year, she was a celebrity contestant on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. In 2018, she collected ‘the ‘Media Personality of the Year’ award at the Asian Media Awards.

Amit Sharma

Amit Sharma is an international award-winning director of theatre and television. Before joining the Kiln Theatre as Associate Director, he was previously Deputy Artistic Director of Birmingham Rep, Associate Artistic Director at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, and Associate Director at Graeae Theatre Company where his journey into theatre began. Sharma directed the critically acclaimed and sell-out run of Retrograde at the Kiln; and has also directed two productions at the National Theatre – The Solid Life of Sugar Water (Graeae Theatre Company/Theatre Royal Plymouth co-production) and The Boy With Two Hearts (also Wales Millennium Centre). He also co-directed Prometheus Awakes, one of the largest outdoor productions featuring Deaf and disabled artists as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad (Graeae Theatre Company/ Greenwich+Docklands International Festival/ Stockton International Riverside Festival/La Fura Dels Baus); and Aruna and The Raging Sun in Chennai, India as part of UK/INDIA Year of Culture 2017.

Sharma is a BAFTA nominated director, for his two films which were part of the Criptales season on BBC and BBC AMERICA. He also co-directed the award-winning BBC and NETFLIX television drama Then Barbara Met Alan (Best Single Drama, 2023 Broadcast Awards).

He began his training at Graeae Theatre Company with Missing Piece 1. His other theatre credits include One Under (Graeae Theatre Company/Theatre Royal Plymouth), Cosmic Scallies (Graeae Theatre Company/Royal Exchange Theatre), and Iron Man (Graeae Theatre Company/international tour). His other television work includes Hamish, and Thunderbox.

Cherylee Houston

Cherylee has played Izzy Armstrong in Coronation Street for the last fourteen years. She has had six seasons of Tinsel Girl, her memoir based plays on Radio 4. She is the founder of TripleC who run DANC, The Disabled Artists Networking Community with over 2000 deaf, disabled and / or neurodivergent creatives. TripleC won the Bafta Special Award in 2022 at The Craft Awards for their work in disability and television. TripleC is dedicated to changing the way disabled people are included in and access the arts, ensuring the way we are reflected in the media impacts on the way disabled people are treated in society.

Cherylee was awarded the Achievement of The Year Award at The Women in Film And Television Awards 2019 and more recently The Doubleday Award. Cherylee received an MBE in the New Years honours list 2022 for services to disabled people and drama.

Conor McPherson

Conor McPherson was born in Dublin in 1971. His plays include The Weir, Girl from the North Country (with Bob Dylan), The Seafarer, The Night Alive, Shining City, Port Authority, This Lime Tree Bower, and St Nicholas. Honours for his work include the Laurence Olivier Award, New York Critics Circle Award, Evening Standard Award, London Critics Circle Award, and five Tony Award nominations. 

Munya Chawawa

Munya is an award-winning content creator, writer, producer, and actor best known for his character-driven social content and razor-sharp political satire. The winner of the 2022 British
Comedy Awards Breakthrough Talent, Munya has received multiple BAFTA nominations for his first two broadcasting projects and won both the Edinburgh TV Awards and RTS Awards Debut Presenter awards in 2022.

Skewering politics and pop culture, Munya has been recognised as the internet’s king of satire. Commenting on national headlines and viral cultural trends through musical parodies and comedy sketches, Munya has developed numerous caricatures to inspect these topics through the lens of comedy. Posh Drill rapper Unknown P, culturally appropriating chef Jonny Oliver, and unassuming racist Steve are just some of the personalities that have enabled him to engage with the absurdities of contemporary culture.

Behind the camera, Munya’s heroic rise and quicker-than-light responses to the most talked about topics led to writing gigs on Charlie Brooker’s Death to 2020 for Netflix, Comedy Central’s
Motherf**king Pep Talk for Comedy Central, and Channel 4’s and Complaints Welcome. He also wrote and presented the BAFTA-nominated How to Survive a Dictatorship on Channel 4. Alongside his writing credentials, he has his own production company, Munz Made It, and executively produced Youtube Original’s Race Around Britain: a road trip exploring black experience and culture in the UK.

Munya has showcased his abilities as an actor in variety of productions. He starred as Prince Andrew in Prince Andrew: The Musical (Channel 4), played Chronozon in The Sandman (Netflix), made his Film debut in 2023’s Rye Lane, and was casted as a gameshow host in BBC Three’s Mood. Additionally, Munya has appeared on a number of panel and gameshows such as Taskmaster, Celebrity Masterchef, Complaints Welcome, The Last Leg, The Jonathan Ross Show, Would I Lie to You?, and The Frankie Boyle Show.

Munya’s talents have seen him collaborate with some of the world’s most influential brands across a multitude of industries. Some notable examples include producing a six-part Youtube series to launch the Samsung Fold, presenting the announcement of the Adidas ZX as ‘Onya Marks, mastering Roman pottery with the help of Google Search, hosting the BRIT’s Top Table podcast, creating a shopping broadcast-style video to display Patta’s 2020 Summer lookbook, and working alongside Netflix twice to create original content.

Appearing on covers and conducting exclusive interviews, platforms such as The Guardian, The Independent, The New York Times, Evening Standard, Buzzfeed, The Metro, i-D, Hunger, The Face, The Poke, Chortle, GRM Daily, and Complex Magazine have sung his praises. Cultural icons such as Giggs, Stormzy and Headie One, Dermot O’Leary, Joe Lycett, John Boyega,
Thundercat, Akala, Ian Wright, Guz Khan, Ashley Walters, Anne Marie, Will Poulter, Danny Brown, Julie Adenuga, Rick Edwards, Claudia Winkleman and Ian Stirling have all voiced their support for Munya’s mastery.

Phoebe Eclair-Powell

Phoebe Eclair-Powell is a writer from South East London. Her play SHED: EXPLODED VIEW won the prestigious Bruntwood Award for 2019 and was on at the Royal Exchange Manchester in February 2024. Her theatre credits include: DORIAN with Owen Horsley (Reading Rep, 2021), Really Big and Really Loud (Paines Plough, 2021), Harm (Bush Theatre, one of the Guardians top 10 plays of 2021), The Picture of Dorian Gray for the Watermill Theatre 2018, These Bridges (National Theatre Connections Festival, 2018), TORCH with Jess Edwards (Underbelly, New Diorama, 2016), Epic Love and Pop Songs (Pleasance Theatre 2016), Fury (Soho theatre, 2016 Winner of the Tony Craze award), WINK (Theatre 503, 2015, Nominated for Best New Play, Offies). 

Her recent TV credits include: The Road Trip (ep 3 and 4, Paramount +), Harm (BBC 4’s Culture in Quarantine), Two Weeks To Live (Sky), Hollyoaks (Channel 4). 

Phoebe has also been involved with the writers room for several shows including: All Her Fault (Peacock) Domino Day (BBC Three), Gauntlet (Sky), Letter to The King (Netflix) Tin Star (Sky series 1-3). 

Phoebe is currently writing her first feature for Film Cymru Wales and is working with Lookout Point on an adaptation of a crime classic, and a YA murder mystery. 

Selina Cartmell

Selina Cartmell is the first Creative Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre from August 2024.  From 2016 to 2022 she was Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre, Dublin.

Selina took a First in Drama and History of Art from Trinity College, Dublin and Glasgow University and graduated with an MA (Distinction) from Central School of Speech and Drama in Advanced Theatre Directing.  In 2007 Selina was protégé to Julie Taymor as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative and Selina was Artist-In-Residence at the Samuel Beckett Theatre between 2010 and 2011.

She has won Best Director at the Irish Times Theatre Awards three times, for Punk Rock, Titus Andronicus and Medea.

Shobna Gulati

Shobna Gulati is an award-winning film, television and theatre actor, choreographer, presenter and author who has worked in the entertainment industry for over 35 years. They are best known for their roles in dinnerladies, Coronation Street, Doctor Who, Hullraisers and Everbody’s Talking about Jamie. Born in Oldham and of South Asian heritage, Shobna has broken through many barriers to become a part of the British cultural industry. An active member of society who is vocal about representation, Shobna works with many charities and voluntary organisations, most recently advocating for families from all backgrounds dealing with dementia.