Whistledown was founded over twenty years ago and is one of the UK’s leading independent audio production companies.

Although we work with a wide range of freelancers around the world, our team is based in London. We are proud to have signed the Equality in Audio Pact, and have been involved in the Multitrack scheme since the very beginning.

David Prest

Managing Director

David is responsible for giving a creative lead to the Senior Editorial team, looking for new stories, new talent, partnerships and opportunities for the company. He loves the editorial challenge of continually finding great stories and giving them the impact they deserve.

As the Editor of The Reunion, the BBC Radio 4 programme we conceived in 2003, he’s always looking for moments from contemporary history that fit its unique format and can give the listener genuine hindsight and reflection on a major news story or cultural event from our past. In our branded content work, David works with businesses and organisations at the top of their game who have a cracking story to tell, and a desire to engage with the audio audience in a creative way.

Ultimately for David, it’s about working with people who have an eye for a great story and ear for great audio.

Katrina Fallon

Finance Manager

Katrina looks after all of Whistledown’s finances. She lives in Lancashire, equidistant between the London and Glasgow office. When not busy with the figures she’s often out and about learning the local flora and fauna, brewing up herbal concoctions and hoping the sun comes out so her tomatoes will ripen.

Katrina is the person to send your invoices to.

Will Yates

Editorial Director

Will is responsible for the editorial direction and values of Whistledown's output.

He produces and executive produces a broad range of programmes and podcasts, specialising in factual, investigative, global and personal stories. He’d love to hear ideas for big investigations like The Great Post Office Trial, extraordinary personal stories for My Name is... innovative solutions journalism for Positive Thinking and anything that makes him say "Wow!"

He’s also a bit of a sports fan - Leeds United to the core, a cricket bore and rapidly becoming borderline evangelical about the benefits of cycling.

Jill Achineku

Assistant Audio Producer

Jill is an assistant audio producer, helping with and making programmes and podcasts for the BBC and various other clients. She is interested in stories that use history or that delve into the psychology behind events to explain why the world is the way it is today.

Emily Uchida Finch

Audio Producer

Emily Uchida Finch is an audio producer who likes covering a large range of topics from the history of lightbulbs to current affairs.

A fluent Japanese language speaker, Emily AKA Emi started her journalism career as a TV cameraperson and producer for a Japanese news broadcaster and as a senior newspaper reporter at the Islington Tribune, part of the Camden New Journal newspaper group.

She was shortlisted as local reporter of the year by the Society of Editors while her paper was crowned the Weekly Newspaper of the Year in 2020.

But her heart was always in radio, and Emily has now produced a variety of BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service programmes including All Consuming, Witness History and Last
Word alongside some podcasts such as The We Society for the Academy of Social Sciences.

A recent convert to all things outdoors, you’ll catch her on top of a Munro with her mountaineering club during the weekends.

Robert Nicholson

Senior Editor: Berlin

Robert produces and executive produces programmes for a wide range of suppliers, as well as pitching and developing ideas, training staff and managing client relationships. In 2021, Robert is setting up Whistledown in Berlin to reach exciting new markets in Europe, bringing the company to new clients and audiences.

His focus is on current affairs programming and journalism that relates more closely to the news - programmes like reactive documentaries, analysis of political and social issues, solutions journalism, and hard-hitting investigations like his recent BBC Radio 4 series The Great Post Office Trial.

Robert is looking to hear ideas for programmes that help us understand the world as it is now. He’s interested in global ideas, including one-off stories, formats and narrative podcasts.