Hot Shots 2024: Leanne Goodall

Leanne Goodall is proof that it’s never too late to start in TV. Following a redundancy in her late thirties, she decided to pursue a dream she had been told was “silly” growing up. It was while undertaking a degree with the Open University and volunteering for its radio station and magazine – as well as doing a part-time job and raising three children – that she unlocked the journalist within.

After her degree, Goodall quit her job and started an MA in Broadcast Journalism at Solent University, at the age of 41. This enabled her to secure work placements at ITV Meridian and the BBC – however, Covid-19 put paid to both. Undeterred, she poured everything into the doc that completed her MA – Trailblazer, a film about the 1971 Women’s World Cup – which caught the attention of Woodcut Media following a screening.

Since then, she has worked on a string of the indie’s true-crime series, initially as production co-ordinator and researcher on Murder In The Red Light. Later, she worked across all 20 episodes of the eighth series of the Most Evil Killers franchise. Assistant producer gigs followed on The Murder Of Sandra Rivett and How I Caught The Killer.

Woodcut Media executive producer Nick Mavroidakis says Goodall’s bravery and dedication to her craft are “unmatched by anyone else I’ve come across in this industry”.

He adds: “After being constantly told she would never make it in TV, she confounded her critics and forged a path for herself. Her casting and background research are second to none – and it all comes from a hunger to succeed in TV.”