Amanda Ross (BA Drama and Theatre Arts, 1984)

Amanda Ross co-founded Cactus TV with her husband Simon in 1994. It has become one of the UK’s most successful independent production companies and remains the third largest supplier to the BBC by volume.

She has produced some of Britain’s highest-rated and longest-running shows, including BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen Live, which she has produced for over 20 years and the groundbreaking Richard & Judy on Channel 4, where she launched TV book clubs in the UK.

Alongside her television career, Amanda has won numerous awards for her contribution to the British publishing industry and is known in the publishing world as the ‘Queen of Books’, despite never having worked in the industry herself. At the height of her TV book clubs, her choices were responsible for 26% of all book sales in Britain.

She has a passion for the power of books and reading, but dislikes anything being described as ‘literary’, firmly believing in the power of good stories and wanting to give everyone the confidence to pick up any book.

Amanda and the Cactus TV team have made thousands of shows. Most recently, combining her passion for the power of books with her love of theatre, Amanda produced and hosted Between the Covers Live in theatres around the United Kingdom, welcoming panel guests like Ruth Jones, Ben Miller and Rob Rinder in a show which celebrated best-selling novelist Agatha Christie.

Of being a student at Birmingham, Amanda said ‘My time at Birmingham University set me up for life! I found out who I was and explored who I wanted to be at the same time. The incredible opportunities to stage our own shows were invaluable. It was the perfect launchpad!’