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RT Group has built its reputation on reality series and survivalist shows, but is now putting its extensive expertise to work in multi-genre safety
“Aren’t you guys usually dangling off a rope with Wim Hof or celebrities in the jungle?”
It’s a question often put to the global safety and health risk management specialist RT Group, which has earned a reputation for industry-leading safety support and specialist risk management (safety, security and medical) behind hit reality shows such as The Traitors, Gladiators and Race Across The World.
But the expanding company also provides advice and support to scripted television and film-makers – a rebuilding genre, now that the Covid-19 pandemic and the US writers’ strike are in the rear-view mirror.
Recent credits include two dramas airing on Netflix: the series Alexander: The Making Of A God, and The Swimmers, a film about two Syrian sisters who swim for hours in choppy Mediterranean seas to reach Greece as asylum seekers before going on to compete at the Rio Olympic Games.
Underscoring this, the company has hired Jamie Fewster as its new global head of production safety services, bringing years of experience and a background in scripted television and film. He has worked in Spain, providing a bridge between UK and US producers and local Spanish crews.
Further high-profile new hires include Arlette Gard, who has worked on dramas such as The Crown, Who Is Erin Carter? and Jurassic World: Dominion, and Lexi Ingall, whose credits include Saltburn, Ted Lasso and The Power. Both will join the team as deputy heads of production safety services, spearheading the company’s expansion in multi-genre safety.
“When you mention RT Group, most people think of the adrenaline, survivalist series and reality shows, but we’re building a really strong and experienced scripted team that is gathering momentum,” says Fewster.
The new emphasis is reflected in the change of identity for the company, which, prior to a rebrand last year, was known as Remote Trauma.
“We supply medics and security, of course, but it’s not just all about the on-site, reactive support. We will also provide a dedicated safety adviser for each scripted production, which means a bespoke service,” says Fewster.
“We can develop a proper working relationship with each production, go through the script, see how scenes are going to work in practice with the cast, and work out if there are any hidden hazards that need to be looked at again, long before it gets to the location.”
Fewster was headhunted to join RT Group by its founder and managing director, Alex Bohanna. “I love working with Alex,” he says. “We have a very similar mindset and outlook. We got chatting about this role and I felt it really made sense.
“We both see the value in giving clients a boutique service, proper bespoke advice and continuity, so that they are dealing with the same people from the very beginning to when they get out on location… providing a consistent level of support for the client.”
More recently, RT Group has worked on BBC3 drama Grime Kids and other scripted productions to air during 2024.
Further changes in the coming months will see a refi nement and relaunch of the company’s Retained Safety Service and an enhancement of the client experience, including improvements to the RT Group online risk-assessment tool (ORA), to make it faster and easier to complete comprehensive risk assessments and encourage productions to move away from paper.
“Nobody likes fi lling in endless paper forms, so we want to make the process as streamlined as possible,” says Bohanna.
