Lime Pictures, formerly known asMersey Television, is a British television production company, founded by producer and writerPhil Redmond in the early 1980s. It produces drama and entertainment shows for the international market, includingHollyoaks,The Only Way is Essex,Geordie Shore andFree Rein.

Lime Pictures

Formerly	Mersey Television (1982–2006)
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Television production
Founded	1982; 43 years ago (1982)
Founder	Phil Redmond
Headquarters	Liverpool , United Kingdom
Key people	Claire Poyser and Kate Little (Joint Managing Directors) Mirella Breda (Chief Creative Officer)
Products	Television programmes Grange Hill (1978–2008) Brookside (1982–2003) Damon and Debbie (1987) Hollyoaks (1995–present) The Courtroom (2004) Living on the Edge (2007) Bonkers (2007) Apparitions (2008) The Only Way Is Essex (2010–present) Geordie Shore (2011–present) House of Anubis (2011–2013) Rocket's Island (2012–2015) Celebs Go Dating (2016–present) Free Rein (2017–2019) Zero Chill (2021) Hollyoaks IRL (2021) Wolf King (2025)
Parent	All3Media (2005–present)
Divisions	Wise Owl Films
Website	limepictures.com

Mersey Television's first major production was the soap operaBrookside forChannel 4, which ran from the channel's foundation in 1982 until 2003, when it was taken off air due to declining ratings. A three-part spin-off ('soap bubble') ofBrookside was produced in November 1987, titledDamon and Debbie.

In 1995, the company began producing a second soap opera for Channel 4,Hollyoaks, which still runs.

BothBrookside andHollyoaks were created by Redmond himself, and in 2003 the company took over production of another series he had created, the children's dramaGrange Hill, which had first been broadcast onBBC1 in 1978 and had been made in-house by the BBC until Mersey Television took over. The company moved production of the series to itsLiverpool base, with the fictional school no longer being established as in London but instead at an unspecified UK location.

In 1991 Mersey Television under the name ofNorth West Television made an audacious bid during theITVnetwork franchise auction to win the Channel 3 licence in theNorth West England from holdersGranada Television. Granada had held the North West franchise ever since the inception of independent television in the 1950s, and Granada was one of the biggest and the most established of the ITV companies. Granada was also a popular production company and it came second only to the BBC to find the most respected British television company amongst the British public.

The bid was supported financially byYorkshire Television andTyne Tees Television and the bid had aimed to provide a more balanced television service for the North West, in particular featuring more content from Liverpool as opposed toManchester. However, although North West Television bid more money for the franchise totalling £35 million as opposed to Granada's £9 million, the licence stayed with Granada because theIndependent Television Commission declared that the Mersey Television bid did not meet the required quality threshold.

Furthermore, Granada was aware of Mersey Television's attempts to gain the North West franchise, and built defences to avoid the loss of the licence it had owned for decades.^[1] Would-be franchise-holders that had no experience of owning an ITV franchise (Mersey Television was one such example) would have to a pass a "quality hurdle" that Granada executives actually helped the ITC to adopt.^[1] Granada also had a well-known catalogue of productions includingPrime Suspect,Cracker,World in Action andCoronation Street and if Mersey Television had gained the franchise, then Granada would have sold these to satellite television. It did not happen.^[1]

Mersey Television was bought byAll3Media in June 2005 and, in a contractual requirement, renamed as Lime Pictures in 2006. Since then the company has produced the following series:

• In 2007, Lime Pictures produced an eight-part series calledLiving on the Edge, documenting the real lives of a group of teenagers in Cheshire, which was shown onMTV.
• In 2007, it produced the short-livedITV sitcomBonkers.
• In 2008, it produced the first (and so far, only) series ofApparitions, starringMartin Shaw as an exorcist.
• In 2009, it produced the BBC Switch reality dramaThe Season filmed inVal-d'Isère.
• In 2010, Lime Pictures produced a pilot episode for theE4 sitcomSex and the Chippy, written by Heather Robson and Neil Jones.^[2]
• Since 2010, Lime Pictures has produced the award-winning reality seriesThe Only Way Is Essex forITV2.
• Through 2011 to 2013, Lime Pictures, along withNickelodeon Productions andStudio 100, producedHouse of Anubis, which aired onNickelodeon.
• From 2011 to 2022, Lime Pictures producedGeordie Shore for MTV in the UK and Ireland.
• From 2011 to 2014, Lime Pictures producedRocket's Island forCBBC.
• From 2014 to 2016,The Evermoor Chronicles were produced forDisney Channel.
• Since 2016, Lime Pictures has producedCelebs Go Dating for E4.
• In 2017, it began producingFree Rein forNetflix.
• In 2021, they producedHollyoaks IRL forChannel 4.^[3] The series has been nominated for aBAFTA TV award, in the Short-form Programme category.^[4][5]
• In 2022, it began producingWolf King forNetflix.

• Official website