Amol Rajan Lands Production Deal with Sister Group as He Prepares to Leave the BBC

Amol Rajan, the broadcaster known to British audiences as host of University Challenge, has signed a production and distribution deal with Sister Group — the London-based company behind television, film, podcasting and publishing output founded by Liz Murdoch and Jane Featherstone in 2019. The partnership was announced at the Edinburgh TV Festival on 27 August 2026, where Rajan delivered the Alternative MacTaggart lecture, one of the most prominent speaking slots on the UK television industry's calendar (Variety).

The first project under the deal is The Amol Rajan Connection, a show set to be recorded at Koko, the music and events venue in Camden. Sister holds a stake in the venue, according to Variety. Two Sister executives will shape the project: Rich Waterworth, whose background spans TikTok and YouTube, will lead strategy, while Bryony Hopkins, formerly of LADBible and Flight Story, will oversee production.

Rajan is preparing to step away from the BBC, where he has been a familiar voice on BBC Radio 4's Today programme and previously served as the corporation's media editor. His departure and the new venture were confirmed ahead of the festival (Televisual; Deadline). The Edinburgh TV Festival, presented by Screen Scotland, describes itself as the TV industry's leading event (Edinburgh TV Festival).

Sister Group is led by CEO Lucinda Hicks alongside co-founders Featherstone and Murdoch, and its work spans scripted, unscripted and digital content. Bringing in Waterworth and Hopkins — both rooted in social-first media — signals that The Amol Rajan Connection is being built with online audiences in mind, not just traditional broadcast slots.

Rajan used his festival platform to urge people to record their parents' Desert Island Discs — the long-running Radio 4 format where guests choose the music that shaped their lives — while they still can. It was a characteristically personal note from a broadcaster whose next step takes him from presenting other people's stories to producing his own.

For viewers, the deal means a new programme from a recognisable face, backed by a company with reach across multiple media. For Rajan, it marks the beginning of life after the BBC — and a chance to build something from the ground up rather than sit in someone else's chair.