John Deering and Kathleen Carragher are a husband and wife team from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Kathleen Carragher
Kathleen retired from the BBC in 2018 to return to her first love of hands-on programme making.
She has spent most of her career working for the BBC and in radio, rising to the most senior post in the BBC Northern Ireland newsroom – Head of News. Prior to that she was Editor, Radio News and Current Affairs in Belfast. Under her leadership the Belfast newsroom won three prestigious Sony Radio Academy Awards.
Before moving back to her home city she was a senior producer on BBC Radio Four’s flagship news programmes, The World at Oneand The World this Weekend. She was also a senior producer on BBC Radio Four’s Woman’s Hour. She started her BBC career as a reporter with BBC Radio Foyle in Derry/Londonderry. She also worked as a print journalist with the Leicester Mercury and the Banbury Guardian.
Kathleen is passionate about squash, Andy Murray, cooking and Radio Four.
John Deering
John is a highly experienced journalist and television/radio producer. He was a reporter in RTE’s Belfast office at the height of the Troubles, reporting on many major stories including the IRA prisoners’ hunger strike, the murder of Lord Mountbatten and the rise and fall of the John De Lorean automobile project. He moved to BBC Northern Ireland where he was a producer on the nightly news programme and the current affairs strand, Spotlight.
John’s interest in travel and the environment took him to the BBC Natural History Unit where he spent four years filming in far flung parts of the world including the Yamal peninsula, in Siberia, where he produced a television documentary on the effects of oil and gas exploration on the lives of the native reindeer herders. His experience prompted him to use Yamal as the name for his production company.
As a freelance and independent producer he has made a wide range of programmes around the world during the past twenty years. Earlier in his career he was the Belfast resident radio news correspondent for ABC Radio (America) and ABC Radio (Australia). He started as a print journalist with the Scotsman and the Irish Times. He’s passionate about Siberia, The Band, space exploration and Liverpool FC.
We use a number of talented reporters, presenters and editors to help make our programmes – see past productions.
Other Personnel
John Colquhoun is Financial Director of Yamal Productions. He also owns his own accountancy and tax advisory company – www.accountancy-assured.co.uk John is passionate about Elvis, classic westerns, hockey and eating.
Tom Deering is an acoustic consultant, based in London. www.vanguardia.co.uk He occasionally advises his parents on audio technology matters. Tom is passionate about techno, guitar playing, vegetarianism and deejaying.
Ken Moffett is a distant cousin … he lives about an hour’s drive north of Wellington in New Zealand. He keeps us up to date on developments Down Under and also broadcasts occasional “Otaki Forks Updates” – rambling observations on life – to a small but dedicated band of listeners called Deep Adaptors. He will NEVER be allowed any official connection with Yamal. Ken is passionate about Crom Castle, Billy Caulfield’s Boats, golf and the kakapo.