Ian Oliver worked for BBC television for much of his early professional life, as camera trainee, cameraman, trailer producer, then producer, director, executive producer and scriptwriter. He produced a wide variety of programmes, but concentrated mainly on documentaries and features. Some of them have won awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He has also worked for the Oman Television Service where he was Executive Producer of all film output. One of his documentaries won first prize at the Manila Film Festival.

In 1985 Ian moved to Singapore and started teaching his craft. He still produces and directs from time to time if there’s a complex live studio, but most of the time he runs formal courses in television production. He has also lectured at NUS and NTU and runs courses in Media Awareness.