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About Us

Tile Films are an established HD factual documentary production company, specialising in innovative, Irish and international documentaries and series about people, history, religion, art, culture and travel. The company was founded in 1989 by Stephen Rooke, one of Ireland's leading documentary filmmakers. The focus is on programmes which entertain and educate and have universal appeal. Click here to see channels that have screened Tile Films and Stephen's work >>channels

PEOPLE

Stephen Rooke - Managing Director/Producer

Stephen Rooke founded Tile Films Ltd. in 1989, after obtaining an Advanced Diploma in Media Production from Bournemouth Film School in the U.K. Stephen is Managing Director of the company and the leader of a vibrant production team that brings a mix of creative and production skills to the film-making process. Over the last seventeen years, Stephen has gained a reputation as one of Ireland's leading documentary/factual programme-makers. He has directed/produced over 100 television documentaries, including two documentary/drama series, fifteen documentary/factual series, six one-off documentaries and a television drama series. Stephen's television work has been seen on over 40 channels throughout the world, including RTE, TG4, BBC, Channel 4, Discovery, National Geographic, PBS, The History Channel, France 5 and SBS Australia click here for a full list.

Stephen produced and directed the critically acclaimed international HD documentary series, The Lost Gods , exploring the spectacular art, architecture and forgotten gods of six ancient world religions, Heaven on Earth , which looked at six major world religions through their art and architecture. Most recently he has produced and directed a 6 x 52 minute HD series Christianity Decoded series for TG4 Ireland, S4C Wales, Vision TV Canada and Smithsonian Networks USA. Christianity Decoded unlocks the mysteries of Christian art and architecture, revealing the meaning behind its symbols and iconography, its myths and its magic. Stephen continues to take an active role in all of the company’s larger projects including Death or Canada, a 2 x 52 minute HD docudrama for History Television Canada and RT which he co produced. He was executive producer of Cromwell in Ireland the 2009 IFTA award winning single documentary of 2008.

As Managing Director Stephen has overall responsibility for the future development of the company.

Dave Farrell - Development Director/Producer

Dave has a wealth of business experience having developed innovative and creative new and successful business ventures in Ireland,

North and South, England, Scotland and Wales. An avid user of visual media, over the years he has written extensively for various non-Television publications and spoken at many business seminars in Ireland, the UK and North America.

He produced The Ghosts of Duffys Cut and the two part series Irelands Nazis and was one of the co producers of Death or Canada and is currently developing a number of new projects for the Irish and International markets. He has executive produced the documentary series, Heaven on Earth, The lost Gods and Cromwell in Ireland. He works alongside Stephen Rooke in the development and general management of the business. He remains a non executive Director of a number of unrelated companies in Dublin and London.

Dave brings to Tile Films the creativity that was instrumental in the development of his very successful business ventures in the UK and Ireland.

Rachel Towell - Head of Production

Rachel has wide ranging experience of the Television industry in Ireland and overseas. She has been instrumental in the project and production management of all recently completed series including Heaven on Earth, The Lost Gods, The Ghosts of Duffys Cut, Irelands Nazis and Rookes of Vicars Hill.

Her experience spans from light entertainment Saturday Night Live- RTE; Speakeasy- TV3) to magazine and lifestyle programmes (About the House series I, II and III RTE & Discovery UK and Antiques Watch - RTE). 

She recently produced the IFTA award winning Cromwell in Ireland, a two part HD docudrama for RTE and History Channel UK and currently being aired on Smithsonian Networks in the US.

Rachel, as Head of Production for Tile Films, has overall responsibility for all projects currently in production. Rachel is a graduate in Communications holding a BA from Dublin City University. She has worked with a number of independent production companies in Ireland and as a sound recordist for ABC News Dept, Australia.

David Ryan - Senior Researcher/Writer

David has worked full time as a writer/ researcher for Tile Films since 2005. He works both in development and production, generating proposals for a range of international broadcasters, and writing treatments and scripts for some of Tiles landmark projects, including the epic 6x52 minute HD series Decoding Christianity, The Ghosts of Duffys Cut and most recently the IFTA award winning Cromwell in Ireland which he co wrote.

David represented Tile Films on Channel 4s Researcher Development Programme, an experience which he felt was invaluable in honing his research/writing skills. Before joining the company, he worked as a freelance researcher/ writer for a number of different production companies and is also a published writer. He also worked for a number years in an Irish Government heritage department

David holds an MA degree in History (first class honours) from NUI Galway, and his abiding passion for history has led him to co-edit a book and publish ten historical articles and book reviews.

Keith Farrell - Development Producer/Director and Writer

Keith joined Tile Films in 2006 from Granada Factual, Manchester, where he held various positions and worked on a diverse range of programming spanning History, Technology and Science. Series and one off Documentaries include Nailbomber for ITV1, Warplane for WNET13, I Survived for C5, Battlefield Detectives for History. Building the Ultimate for C5, Titanic - Birth of a Legend for ITV1. He has also worked as a freelance journalist in the UK and Ireland.

Most recently, Keith wrote and directed the two part award winning series Irelands Nazis an investigative look at Nazis who entered Ireland after World-War II. Keith holds a BA (Hons) in History and Politics from University College Dublin, an MA in International Relations from Dublin City University and a diploma certificate in print journalism.

He has also participated in the full time Television and Video Production industry programme in Bournemouth University where he obtained a further Masters Degree. Keith is responsible for developing our newly established Manchester office.