Game, set and match: Whisper MD for sport Bethan Evans discusses her career from Rugby World Cups to the Wimbledon Championship and the Olympics

Whisper managing director for sport, Bethan Evans

Bethan Evans is managing director of sport at production company, Whisper. She started her career as a runner on the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, and has since moved through various roles and companies from BBC Sport to the All England Lawn Tennis Club. This is her second stint at Whisper and she is loving it. Read on for more.

How did you first find out about TV broadcasting as a career? What was your inspiration or idea, and why sports broadcasting?

I did a degree in psychology and was considering doing a law conversion but was always really keen on working in TV and in particular sport because it looked interesting and sounded exciting. I didn’t really have any idea what jobs were available, but looked to a national broadcaster as an entry point as there are a lot of different routes. There is an element of luck in any career, but being engaged and willing to try different things seems to have worked for me. I am glad I didn’t end up being a lawyer, even though I do have a lot of contracts to deal with!

The Wimbledon Broadcast Services team back in July 2019, with Paul Davies, Bethan Evans and Tom Giles in the quality control room of the broadcast centre

What’s the coolest thing you’ve worked on in the course of your career?

I’ve been incredibly lucky to work on some amazing sports events but still feel unbelievably grateful for the that first opportunity on the Rugby World Cup in 1995. I come from a rugby loving family, so it was just so great to be a part of it and was at the final… even though it was England in the final, not Wales!

What has been your career path within TV?

A degree in psychology is clearly not a course specific to media at all, although have always been fascinated by human behaviour and it’s definitely helped me along the way. An ability to read people and work out ways to get the best from them in high pressure situations is a useful skill to have in media.

What advice would you give to other women looking to move into a role in sports broadcasting like your own?

• Try to explore all the roles that are open to you
• Don’t limit yourself or let others
• Be nice to people

What was your first job, how did you get it, what did it involve, and how did you feel about it?

I was incredibly lucky to be a runner on the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia. I spent eight weeks helping the ITV team in Sydney. The production manager was Pauline Hamilton, who is utterly brilliant, and after a few weeks working with her and I was hooked.

I then worked on something called the ‘BBC panel’; essentially BBC had its own ‘temp agency’ to support in administrative roles. You got phoned up and given short placements across the BBC. I did a few days in drama, a few months in HR and then ended up in the sport publicity team from where I applied for my first job as production team assistant in BBC sport.

What other jobs have you had that moved you along into sports broadcasting? What has been your career progression?

I spent nine years at BBC Sport, moving from production team assistant to production co-ordinator. I was lucky enough to do the BBC’s live gallery PA training which meant I then went on to PA shows like Grandstand (showing my age) and Sports Personality of the Year, an iconic programme that, ironically, Whisper got to produce in 2024.

I loved doing live shows but also enjoyed taking on increased responsibility as I stepped into production management. My last job for BBC Sport was production manager on the 2012 Olympics alongside the brilliant Kay Satterley. It was a busy time I as returned to work after eight months maternity so I could be up to speed in time for the Games. I just about managed to juggle, and it was a great experience.

Following the Games BBC Sport moved to Salford but I decided not to relocate and it was time for a change. I freelanced a bit before joining Whisper at the beginning of 2013. At the time there were just four of us and we primarily produced motorsport related branded content. We were passionate about making great content and we were ambitious.

It was a whirlwind few years, and by the time I left we had moved offices twice, grown to over 40 staff, become part of the Channel 4 growth fund and had our first big broadcast commissions in the NFL Show on BBC and the F1 coverage for Channel 4.

I then spent four years at the All England Lawn Tennis Club as part of the in house Wimbledon Broadcast Services team that oversaw the bringing of the host broadcast inhouse including the transformation of the Broadcast Centre. Having worked on Wimbledon during my time at the BBC I knew what an amazing event it is, and it proved to be a very special place to work. The different perspective and experienced it brought me has also been invaluable as I continue my career.

How did you get your current job role?

I returned to Whisper, joining at an exciting time to help secure the UEFA production contract and oversee the build of a bespoke UEFA hub in our Kew Offices. In the time I’d been away, the growth had kept a pace and there were nearly 100 people.

I have worked right across the group as director of production, and am excited to have just started my new role as managing director, sport, taking responsibility for a significant part of the business as well as its continued growth. No pressure!

Why did you go for it?

The business is growing at pace, and Mark Cole has stepped up to a broader role. It seemed like a natural progression, and the culture of promoting from within is pretty strong at Whisper. I have worked closely with Sunil, our CEO, and share his vision, and passion, for making Whisper even bigger and better, so there’s a mutual trust and faith in what we are trying to achieve and the quality of the work we want to do.

What was hard about getting the job, learning the role, and keeping it?

Like a lot of things, you don’t quite appreciate the scale and complexity of a senior management role like this until you’re doing it. There’s no manual as such, so you just have to get on with it, trust your judgement and people you’re working with.

What’s the hardest thing about it?

As you take on more senior roles, probably the biggest challenge for me is accepting you can’t be across every detail of every project, and to let the amazing production teams

What do you enjoy about it?

One of the best things is initiating a process from the very inception and then seeing that right through to the delivery of the finished product. There are lots of challenges and twists and turns on the way, but it’s an incredibly stratifying feeling to bring a team together and deliver something special and impactful.

What challenges have you faced over the course of your career and how did you get you get past those challenges?

I feel very privileged to have been able to work in this industry and do the jobs I have done but I also know I have worked incredibly hard get where I am. Balancing that with a family and wanting to both as well as you possibly can, is exhausting

What’s the most challenging thing about working in live sport today, or generally, and why?

The schedule is not for everyone and our clients and consumers want more, so you have to be ready to think innovatively as well as work hard. The advance in technology, delivery and creativity are stimulating, but you need to be across it consistently, so bringing together the right people at the right time is essential.

The technologies used in sports broadcasting have evolved rapidly over recent years. What for you in your day to day job is the most exciting?

Remote production has of course been a game changer. I was reminded again during our Paralympics coverage last year about just what is possible, as we produced over 300 hours of the games coverage from our hub in Cardiff while the presentation were all in Paris.