BBC One's political debate programme, Question Time, is being hosted from Exeter this evening.

David Dimbleby chairs the programme from Devon which sees Labour MP for Leeds Central Hilary Benn; Conservative MP for Corby and author Louise Bagshawe; Liberal Democrat MP for Taunton Deane Jeremy Browne; former British Ambassador to the Unites States Sir Christopher Meyer and media lawyer Charlotte Harris, face questions from the audience.

To apply for a seat in future audiences you can register your question at www.bbc.co.uk /questiontime or call the audience line on 01299 829 299.

For further information please contact Louise Plank on 020 8995 3936 or lou@plankpr.com

Mentorn Media has announced that Claudia Lewis is joining the company as Executive Producer, Factual Programmes Mentorn and Mentorn USA.

Claudia joins Mentorn from Talkback Thames TV where she was Head of Specialist Factual, setting up specialist factual development there in 2009.

While heading up Specialist Factual Department, Claudia also co-created and then series produced the imminent Four Rooms series for Channel 4 which starts on Tuesday  May 24th. Other commissions won at Talkback Thames have included Squeamish, a 14-part series for Discovery US and Shackleton's Whisky a 60-minute special for the National Geographic Channel US.

Mentorn Media Chief Executive, John Willis, said: "Claudia will be a tremendous asset to the Mentorn Media team. Her creativity in the UK will be invaluable as well as in the US."

Claudia said: "I'm thrilled to be joining Mentorn and working across series both here and in America."

Claudia began her television career when she trained at the BBC in the Consumer Unit on programmes such as Watchdog and Holiday.  She then became a producer/director and then series producer of factual and specialist factual programming.

In the BBC science department, she series produced the BAFTA nominated Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery for BBC4/2; she was also producer/director of Fight for Life, a six-part series for BBC 1/Discovery/Prozieben following the real life cases of serious illness and injury which won a BAFTA Craft Award for Special Effects.

For further information please contact Louise Plank at 020 8995 3936 or lou@plankpr.com

Mentorn Media productions, Question Time and Hunting Britain's Most Wanted delivered successful ratings  last night, it was announced today.

BBC One's Question Time from Wormwood Scrubs won its slot with 3 million viewers at its peak, while Hunting Britain's Most Wanted secured 2 million viewers for Channel 4.

Mentorn Media's Creative Director, Steve Anderson, said: "Both programmes were made possible by patient and intensive journalistic work by the production teams. It's terrific that both an in-depth documentary and a debate programme were watched by so many viewers."

Last night's edition of Question Time saw David Dimbleby host the political debate programme from the Chapel in Wormwood Scrubs, with panellists Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke MP; former Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw MP; British journalist and author Melanie Phillips and Director of Liberty (The National Council for Civil Liberties) Shami Chakrabarti.

It was the first time in Question Time's 32-year history to broadcast from inside a prison, and followed the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in April to give the UK six months to comply with its ruling to extend the right to vote to convicted prisoners.

Hunting Britain's Most Wanted, in Channel 4's acclaimed Cutting Edge slot, followed an elite squad of Scotland Yard police officers hunting down the some of world's most dangerous criminals currently on the run in the UK. The expansion of the EU and open borders in the UK has led to a surge in foreign criminals heading for Britain. The number of requests for wanted fugitives has risen ten-fold over the past five years and now totals more than 4,300 a year. Over the course of three months the production team, led by Lee Sorrell, gained unique access to New Scotland Yard's Extradition Unit and followed them as they went about their work - tracking down murderers, suspected rapists and armed robbers from abroad to send them back to face justice.

For more information please contact Louise Plank on 020 8995 3936.

The BBC has commissioned Mentorn Media to make a documentary on the iconic American author John Steinbeck with novelist and broadcaster Melvyn Bragg presenting.

In the one-hour programme, Bragg embarks on a journey to learn more about literary great.

Mentorn Media's Executive Producer, said Steve Anderson said: "Melvyn will be travelling from the Oklahoma dust bowl to the California coast, to celebrate The Grapes of Wrath, the most famous of John Steinbeck's works.

"The big questions Melvyn will be exploring are: Why did this novel rattle the sensitivities of America, and more than 70 years on, what parallels can be drawn with today's USA as it struggles with a new economic downturn and wrestles with the excesses of the banks?"

Speaking at the Booksellers' Association annual Book Industry Conference, Arts Commissioning Editor, Mark Bell said "The BBC continues to be a platform for debate, celebration, narration and dramatisation of great writing and storytelling. Many of our best programmes have derived from books, drive audiences back to those books or become books to buy, treasure or press into the hands of people you care about."

For more information please contact Louise Plank on 020 8995 3936 or lou@plankpr.com

BBC One's political debate programme, Question Time will come from HMP Wormwood Scrubs tonight, Thursday 19^th May, at 10.35pm.

David Dimbleby chairs the programme with panellists Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke MP; former Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw MP; British journalist and author Melanie Phillips and Director of Liberty (The National Council for Civil Liberties) Shami Chakrabarti.

The decision to broadcast the episode from the Chapel in Wormwood Scrubs follows the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in April to give the UK six months to comply with its ruling to extend the right to vote to convicted prisoners.

The audience will be made up of 10 prison staff, more than 100 members of the public and include 10 prisoners, chosen by the prison and the BBC, none of whom is serving a sentence for violent crime.

For further information please contact Louise Plank on 020 8995 3936 or lou@plankpr.com

Mentorn Media has produced the forthcoming Cutting Edge documentary  following an elite squad of Scotland Yard police officers hunting down the some of world's most dangerous criminals currently on the run in the UK.

The hour-long programme, Hunting Britain's Most Wanted, transmits on Channel 4 this Thursday, 19th May at 9pm.

The expansion of the EU and open borders in the UK has led to a surge in foreign criminals heading for Britain. The number of requests for wanted fugitives has risen ten-fold over the past five years and now totals more than 4,300 a year. Over the course of three months Mentorn Media secured unique access to New Scotland Yard's Extradition Unit and follow them as they go about their work - tracking down murderers, suspected rapists and armed robbers from abroad to send them back to face justice.

Some of these criminals go to extraordinary lengths to evade capture, changing their name and ID so it's a painstaking and often frustrating experience tracking them down. A record 1500 foreign fugitives are now arrested each year and with more and more coming to these shores it's a job that is stretching the unit and its officers to the limit.

Mentorn's team are there as officers follow up on leads, tracing potentially dangerous criminals, and capture high tension arrests as the unit's hard work finally pays off. The cameras are also with the unit when it deals with some of its biggest ever high profile cases including the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, wanted in Sweden for alleged sex crimes, and the arrest of Shrien Dewani, wanted in South Africa in connection with the death of his wife, Anni, on their honeymoon.

Other cases include the hunt for Hungary's most wanted fugitive, a man linked to a string of armed robberies and an attempted murder and currently roaming around London. The police also chase down a Turkish man who conducted an honour killing and a suspected Croatian war criminal. Officers intercept a man convicted of murder in his homeland Albania. He has spent more than ten years on the run, and his wife unwittingly leads them to him. He is arrested in the middle of a busy street market protesting his innocence. The unit is put on high alert for a suspected serial rapist who's escaped the French authorities - he is considered by the police to be highly dangerous and they must do everything in their power to close in on him before it's too late.

For further information please contact Louise Plank on 020 8995 3936 or lou@plankpr.com

Speaking on BBC One's Question Time, Dr Vince Cable, Lib Dem MP and Business Secretary, said there should be a return to Cabinet for David Laws.

"I think he would make a very good addition to Government," said Dr Cable. "He's a loss and it would be good to welcome him back."

He added that it would be up to Mr Laws and Nick Clegg and David Cameron when a return should happen.

Question Time is on BBC One at 10.35pm or on iPlayer after transmission.

For further information please contact Louise Plank on 07801 321 965 or lou@plankpr.com

BBC One's political debate programme, Question Time will come from HMP Wormwood Scrubs, it was announced today (THURS).

The decision to broadcast the episode from the Chapel in Wormwood Scrubs on Thursday, May 19th at 10.35pm follows the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in April to give the UK six months to comply with its ruling to extend the right to vote to convicted prisoners.

David Dimbleby chairs the programme which includes panellists Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke MP and former Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw MP.

The audience will include 10 prisoners, none of whom is serving a sentence for violent crime. They will be chosen by the prison and the BBC, as well as 10 prison staff as well as more than 100 members of the public.

Sue Inglish, BBC's Head of Political Programmes said: "The involvement in the debate of prisoners and prison staff will offer Question Time viewers a unique insight into their views on the issue of the right to vote as well as more general questions."

The programme is produced by Mentorn Oxford.

Question Time, the BBC's premier political debate programme comes from London on Thursday 5 May.

David Dimbleby will be joined by the Transport Secretary Philip Hammond and the shadow education secretary Andy Burnham.

The panel will also include the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Lord Ashdown, the journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and the neo-conservative author and the director for the centre of social cohesion, Douglas Murray.

Question Time will be on BBC One at 2235 BST on Thursday 5 May and available on BBC iPlayer after transmission.

Mentorn Media Starts Production on Sky Atlantic HD Commission, Brixham - Fish Town

Mentorn Media has been commissioned to produce Brixham - Fish Town (W/T) a new observational documentary series for Sky Atlantic HD, it was announced today (THURS).

Commissioned by Siobhan Mulholland, Commissioning Editor Factual & Features, the ten-part series will be executive produced for Mentorn Media by Neil Grant and the series producer is Jim Funnell.

Mentorn Media has unique access to one of Britain's oldest and busiest fishing ports, and each 60-minute instalment will provide an eye-opening insight into the town from the point of view of the great characters who for generations have lived and worked there, especially as they adapt to the demands of the future.   

Siobhan Mulholland said: "It's a pleasure to be working with the people of Brixham on this exciting new series- the first of its kind to be broadcast on Sky Atlantic HD. It's a filmic, intense, yet gentle insight into this historic Devonshire town and the great characters who inhabit it."

Built on fish, Brixham is looking forward to a new era in the town's history having recently completed a multi-million pound regeneration project. Once England's greatest fishing port, the Devonshire tourist hot spot is a bustling town and this character-driven fly-on-the-wall documentary aims to take viewers from trawler to table via the fishermen and market traders who keep this ancient industry alive.

The series will not only capture life at sea, but also let viewers into the engaging and revealing world behind the scenes of this historic town.

Neil Grant added: "This is a warm and engaging look at the characters and personalities that are the beating heart of one of the best loved towns in Devon. This series will revel in the beauty of the sea and its surroundings, and capture the daily life of this popular tourist town."

This is Mentorn Media's first commission from Sky Atlantic HD and is the latest in their continuing relationship with Sky following An Idiot Abroad, Hairspray: The School Musical, Grease: The School Musical, At Home with the Hattons, Credit Crunch Monty for Sky 1; and My Big Fat Cycle Challenge for Sky Real Lives. 

Brixham - Fish Town (W/T) will be distributed by Mentorn International.

For more information please contact Louise Plank on 020 8995 3936 or lou@plankpr,com