Laurence Rees is currently Creative Director of BBC History. In 1994, he launched the BBC's historical biography strand Reputations. He was also editor of Timewatch for a number of years and under his editorship the strand won three Emmy Awards in three years. He wrote and produced The Nazis:A Warning from History which won him many awards including a BAFTA, an International Documentary Association Award and a Broadcasting Press Guild Award. He went on to write and produce three other acclaimed series on World War Two,War of the Century, Horror in the East and Auschwitz: The Nazis and the 'Final Solution'.

In 2005 Rees received an honorary doctorate from the University of Sheffield for his contribution to history and television and has written several books.