Ash Atalla, who produced BBC hit comedy The Office, is leaving Talkback Thames at the end of the year to set up his own comedy-focused production company.

Atalla joined Talkback Thames in 2004 as head of comedy, and has worked on Channel 4's The IT Crowd and BBC 3's Man Stroke Woman.

He was recruited from the BBC, where he was commissioning executive for comedy, by Talkback's former chief exec Peter Fincham, now controller of BBC1.

Atalla told Broadcast: "The idea of setting up on my own has been a little voice that's been in the back of my head for the past couple of years and it's just got louder and louder. I have strong ideas about what I would like to do and who I would like to work with."