Karen is a multi-award-winning executive producer and documentary film maker.
After a successful career as a print journalist, Karen moved into television in 2000 and has spent the last 20 years making documentaries. She is known for making ground-breaking and agenda-setting documentaries for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 as well as international broadcasters such as HBO and CCTV China.
Karen has a reputation for making powerful and sensitive documentaries such as Nigeria’s Stolen Daughters - a feature-length film about the kidnapped Chibok girls in Nigeria (BBC2, HBO and Arte France), which won a News & Documentary Emmy and was awarded the prestigious Peter Jennings Award by the Overseas Press Club.
Karen was also responsible for the highly acclaimed Grierson-winning and Emmy-nominated documentary Hunted (C4 and HBO), the Bafta and Grierson-nominated Ebola: The Doctors’ Story (BBC and HBO), The Orphans of Ebola (C4 and HBO), Terror in the Desert - a heart-stopping account of the Al Qaeda attack on a gas plant in Algeria, Tormented Lives - a powerful film presented by Rosa Monckton on the impact of disability hate crimes, and Frank Gardner’s Return to Saudi Arabia.
Most recently, Karen made Fighter Pilot: The Real Top Gun, a three-part series for ITV primetime. This real Top Gun style documentary saw recruits battling to be picked to travel to the USA and learn to fly the most expensive fighter jet in the world. This adrenalin fuelled series, with unbelievable aerial scenes is now attracting US attention.
Karen has just delivered a series with unique access to Network Rail for ITV and The Hunt for Gaddafi’s Billions - a feature documentary for BBC and European broadcasters. She is currently working on a feature documentary on 9/11 and is about to start her first venture into podcasting.
With her journalism training, Karen is also known for crafting powerful and revelatory documentaries on current affairs that make headlines and prompt change. Her film, The Secrets of Sports Direct, was a catalyst for a national campaign, sweeping changes to the company’s employment methods and the owner of the high street giant being called before Parliament. Her documentary, The Paedophile MP: How Cyril Smith Got Away with It, prompted a full investigation, while her RTS and British Journalism Award-winning film, Plebs, Lies and Videotape, led to a policeman going to jail, ten more being disciplined and the highest-ranking civil servant and police chief in the country being called to Parliament to answer for their role in the scandal.