Emma Smithwick

Emma Smithwick
Nationality	Irish
Occupation	TV Producer
Years active	since 2009
Television	Hollyoaks

Emma Smithwick is an Irish television producer. Smithwick worked at the BBC for six years where she was involved with several shows for the teen brand BBC Switch and moved on to write for its in-house teen soap The Cut. For the final year of BBC Switch, Smithwick was a commissioning editor. In 2011 Smithwick moved to Hollyoaks to take on the role as Series Editor and later replaced Gareth Philips as the series producer of the soap opera Hollyoaks.

Smithwick started her career as the assistant to the Producer on The Honeymooners feature film for Paramount Pictures. Smithwick then moved to the BBC in 2005 where she worked in Entertainment Events and worked on Saturday night entertainment shows including Strictly Come Dancing and How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria. Smithwick then moved on to set up BBC Switch with Geoffrey Goodwin and Andy Parfitt. She continued to work at BBC Switch as a creative producer across drama and comedy. While at the BBC, she worked on the teen soap The Cut as a script supervisor and then as a writer.

In May 2011, The producer began working on Channel 4's soap opera Hollyoaks as the acting series editor. Producer replaced Gareth Philips as the series producer. Smithwick's first episode in which she was credited as series producer aired on 26 December 2011. Philips introduced the sixth form students and the uni students into the show and Smithwick continued to keep them at the centre, with the aim of creating a more realistic portrayal of university life through the introduction of these characters and focussing on the friendship groups rather than just on families. Talking about her vision for the show, the producer said: "through the stories that we're telling and the way we're telling them, we want the audience to really engage with the characters. It definitely takes time but when that happens, it means you can do things with the characters and the viewers will really care. I find the worst thing is when you watch certain shows and something horrendous happens, but you don't really care or know why you should care. Emotional integrity is one of the key things that I want to drive through".

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