Hot Shots 2026: Ava Knight

Channel 4’s Big Boys, Canadian drama Wild Cards and Australian true-crime doc Death Cap: The Mushroom Murders are among the buzzy shows that Ava Knight has helped transform into global hits.

Canadian-born Ava joined Fifth Season in 2023 after six years at BBC Studios. Her early interest in Big Boys led Hulu to land Jack Rooke’s comedy for the US, while her recognition of the potential international resonance of Death Cap led her to position it for commercial success.

The doc sparked a competitive bidding war in the UK before landing at Netflix and also secured CNN as its US home, and was already in profit before it had even aired on Australian network Stan, its domestic commissioning home.

Ava has also had success in bringing international titles to three separate UK buyers. Ensuring Fifth Season invested early in dramas Wild Cards and Saint-Pierre, Ava oversaw their international rollout and expansion into returners, selling them here to Paramount+ and UKTV respectively.

Thanks to her acute ability to understand specific markets and position content strategically, she also successfully brought Australian courtroom drama The Twelve to ITVX.

Fifth Season SVP, acquisitions, Kate Laffey hails Ava’s “exceptional ability to identify stories with both strong editorial value and genuine international commercial potential – a skill that is increasingly rare in today’s market”.

She adds: “Ava combines sharp creative instincts with a deep understanding of financing, co-production and distribution strategy, making her a hugely valuable executive and collaborator.

“Beyond her professional achievements, Ava is incredibly hardworking, thoughtful and solutions oriented. She approaches every challenge with positivity and determination and is someone people naturally want to work with. She is already operating at a very high level, and I have no doubt she will continue to become one of the industry’s leading executives.”