Two new directors have been appointed by Ragdoll Productions to work on the company's comedy classic for Children's ITV Rosie and Jim.

Paul Leather and Marcus Prince have joined existing director Nigel P. Harris to work on Series 8 as Rosie and Jim prepares for its tenth anniversary.

Leather (38) who lives in Wootten Wawen near Stratford upon Avon was born in Enfield, Middlesex and was educated at The Latymer School and The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, (London).

He worked in the theatre and the USA before moving to Birmingham to become a trainee floor manager at Central Television, where he worked on everything from Crossroads to Spitting Image.

Since turning freelance in 1989 Leather has appeared on screen as a presenter on ‘Anything for Money’, ‘Scavenger Hunt’ and ‘That's Life!’ while continuing to direct and assistant direct on a variety of shows including the last Christmas Special of ‘One Foot in the Grave’.

Last year he worked with Ragdoll Productions as an assistant director on Teletubbies and says he is

"Thrilled and delighted to be working with Rosie and Jim as they sail in to their tenth year".

Prince (39) who lives in the Kings Heath district of Birmingham was born in the Hall Green suburb of the city, and after moving with his parents to Hampshire and Yorkshire returned to the West Midlands to attend Solihull Sixth Form College and Birmingham University where the BA Hons Drama degree included a television directing course.

He worked as a floor manager and assistant director with Central Television on children's programmes such as ‘Woof’ and ‘News at Twelve’. Other programmes included ‘Crossroads’, ‘Boon’ and ‘Chancer’.

More recently Prince has worked for five years with ‘The Bill’, ‘Emmerdale’, the BBC drama series ‘Back Up’, and on ‘Preston Front’ and ‘Eldorado’, also for the BBC.

"Rosie and Jim are a wonderful part of childhood and I'm very pleased to be joining the series at such an important time in its development" he says.

Nigel P. Harris, with whom Leather and Prince are working on Series 8, also lives in Birmingham. He started his career as a runner on films for Mary Tyler Moore, where he worked on ‘92 Grosvenor Street’ with David McCallum, ‘Remington Steele’ with Pierce Brosnan, and ‘Kings & Emeralds’ for David Putnam.

His first job with Ragdoll was on the first series of Rosie and Jim, when he was camera assistant to the cameraman Derek Gruszeckyj. He has worked extensively for Ragdoll Productions, as producer on the BAFTA-award winning Tots TVSpecials (California, Lapland and Australia), and also as director on Teletubbies.

He has also worked for the BBC as unit manager on programmes such as Mike Smith's series ‘That's Showbusiness’, ‘The Travel Show’, ‘Steve Wright's Home Truths’, and as location manager alongside Prince on the police drama ‘Back Up’.

Harris will have directed 37 episodes of Rosie and Jim by the end of filming for Series 8, which is due for transmission in early 2000 -- and once again he is working with cameraman Derek Gruszeckyj.