Sir Lenny Henry has renewed his calls for the BBC to include a ringfenced fund in its royal charter to increase black, Asian and minority ethnic representation in the television industry.
Speaking at an event on diversity in programming at Goldsmiths University, the actor and writer voiced concerns that BAME talent is “ghettoised” with emerging talent pigeonholed into making programmes about ethnic-specific issues.
The event is part of Lord Puttnam’s independent inquiry into the future of public service broadcasting and the landscape of television.
Henry spoke of his disappointment that the Skillset Census, an industry-wide media survey, showed the number of BAME people working in the UK TV industry had declined by 30.9% between 2006 and 2012.
Dawn Foster for the Guardian, 23rd March 2016
Please note that the tickets for the event are no longer available but you can watch the live stream of our events page or Goldsmiths Live Stream. Please also note that Dr Rupa Huq (MP for Ealing Central and Acton) is no longer able to attend.
Confirmed speakers:
Sir Lenny Henry (Actor, Writer and TV Presenter)
Pat Younge (MD of Sugar Films; former BBC Chief Creative Officer)
Bev Skeggs (Professor of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London)
Dawn Foster (Writer on politics, social affairs and economics for The Guardian, London Review of Books, Independent and Times Literary Supplement)
Film producer and Labour Peer David Puttnam brings his Inquiry into the Future of Television to Liverpool. Phil Redmond CBE, Ruth Fox (Chair, Hansard Society) and others discuss whether TV reflects the lifestyles and opinions of people across the UK, or if it just a mouthpiece for the ‘London bubble’. To what extent does TV offer a space to talk politics or express the different lifestyles of people across all the regions of the UK? Come and contribute to the debate and the Inquiry and listen to producers and writers who want to make TV relevant to people where they live. The event, hosted by Liverpool’s Writing on the Wall festival, will also launch a new study into how TV has contributed to political debate in Liverpool, carried out by researchers at the Hansard Society. This event is one of seven across the UK that will inform the Inquiry which will have its parliamentary launch in June 2016.
Date: Wednesday, 4th May 2016 at 7 pm
Venue: The Black-E, 1 Great George Street, L1 5EW
ITV plc’s submission argues that the pressures on investment in original UK content is particularly acute in high-cost genres such as drama. However, public service channels in general, ITV offers, continue to play the most important part in original UK television content. Referring to Ofcom’s headline figures for 2014 about investment in original UK television content, ITV argues that the figures are even starker. While Ofcom suggests that the PSBs’ non-sport original content spend of £2.4bn accounted for 87% of spend on originated content compared to 13% of non-PSBs, ITV’s analysis suggests that at least £80m (or 23%) of the 2014 non-PSB originations spend of £350m is actually accounted for by the wider PSB channel families. Read the submission in full here.
According to the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), the BBC should ‘begin discussions over, and experimentation with, different funding models’ while maintaining its public service remit ‘associated with commissioning risk and editorial protection, and separated from commercial and political interest’. The RSE further argues that the Trust model cannot be sustained, but finds that the establishment of a separate regulator (rather than Ofcom) may be more appropriate. Read the submission in full here.