Elliot Hegarty is a twice BAFTA-nominated, British Comedy award-winning director who has worked with leading TV networks and streaming platforms in both the UK and US.

Elliot has worked with many notable names in comedy, such as Julie Walters, Matthew Perry, Sir Tom Courtenay, Rebel Wilson, Jennifer Saunders, Victoria Hamilton, and Harry Enfield. His UK TV credits include Bad Education, starring Jack Whitehall, Lovesick, voted ‘Top 50 Best TV shows 2016’, and FM, nominated for Best Comedy by Rose D’Or in 2010. Elliot’s stateside credits include The Real O’Neal’s, The Middle, Black-ish, and Pulling. In 2015, Elliot directed The Bad Education Movie, starring Jack Whitehall and Iain Glen. The film proved that year’s most successful British Comedy – with Screen International calling it ‘Unexpectedly hilarious’ and IGN describing it as ‘Laugh out-loud funny’.

Between 2017-2019, Elliot completed four TV movies, including: Grandpa’s Great Escape (BBC1), The Midnight Gang (BBC1) and The Trial of Joan Collins (SkyArts). In 2020, he directed episodes in the first season of Ted Lasso for Apple TV+ with critical and commercial acclaim – the show winning 7 Emmys at the 2021 awards. His 2021 TV project Cheaters started airing on BBC1 in February 2022 and was called ‘absolutely wicked’ by several members of Gogglebox – which Elliot cites as ‘a serious career high’.

Elliot has recently completed Season 3 of the comedy-drama Trying for Apple TV+, starring Rafe Spall, and a second season of Cheaters for the BBC.

Elliot’s commercial work for Club 18-30 has picked up numerous awards, including a Silver and two Bronzes at the British Television Advertising Awards and a Bronze Lion at Cannes. His ad ‘Counter’ was judged as one of the 50 funniest ads on Channel 5’s ‘Funniest Ads in The World...Probably’. He was nominated as Best New Director at the British Television Advertising Craft Awards in 2000 and selected for the prestigious New Directors’ Showcase in Cannes 2001. He has since worked with clients as diverse as Guinness, MFI, KFC, Npower, Enterprise, Hyundai, and The Daily Telegraph.

In 2024, Elliot directed and executive produced the Disney+ adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals, a bold and stylish reimagining of the classic novel with a star-studded ensemble cast including David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Katherine Parkinson, and Danny Dyer. The series was met with widespread acclaim from audiences and critics alike, with The Guardian awarding it 5 out of 5 stars and The Radio Times naming it “a true gem within Disney Plus’s original UK content crown, living up to the understandable buzz around it.” Rivals dominated UK streaming charts for several weeks following its premiere, with a second season already in development.