Of all the television production companies listed in London, Ten Alps is beginning to look the most innovative and ambitious - not to mention the fastest growing.

Recent results for the year to March 2006 from Alex Connock's firm showed revenues jumping 21.5% to £42.2m and a 122% leap in pre-tax profits to £2.66m. The television production side this year looks like it will be even stronger. At the end of June, the group had 13 'docudramas', 6 factual television series and 8 one-off programmes for TV channels in the UK and US. A further 10 series for digital TV and 15 for radio stations where also in production. Said Connock, 'our projected revenues for the first six months of this year are up 50% year-on-year.'

In other areas, the Teachers' TV joint venture for the education sector is proving a success, with the television channel being widely praised by the Department for Education & Skills (which is funding it to the tune of many millions of pounds). The complimentary website service, www.teachers.tv has had over 100,000 programmes downloaded or streamed by a wide array of teaching professionals.

The most exciting development of late though, has been the purchase of specialist public sector publisher McMillan Scott for £12.3m. This outfit produced sales of £26m in the year to June 2005 and its purchase brings 'hundreds of advertising backed publications into the group'. The plan is to put these titles online and for them to form the foundation of www.public.tv, an exciting project (and one not without risk) to become the leading source of information and programming for the UK's 5.8m public sector workers.

Said Connock 'we intend to launch public.tv in the autumn, using the skilled sales force at McMillan Scott to give it scale. We have proved ourselves in this environment with Teachers' TV and I am confident that we can make it a successful, profitable web-based enterprise.

The goal of Connock - and his fellow directors Bob Geldoff and Brian Waldon - is to wean Ten Alps off its TV production reliance and to create a new publishing and television production force fit to fight the battles of the 21st century media world. At present all seems to be going to plan.