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2 months ago
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The new UK Culture Secretary will this afternoon say the entertainment industry should be “shamed” by being “one of the most centralised and exclusive industries” in the country.
Delivering her first major set-piece, Lisa Nandy will say her department is prepared to introduce “rocket boosters” in order for it to commission more shows from across the UK and from working-class voices.
She will pose the question to TV commissioners in the room at RTS London: “If you aren’t commissioning content from every part of the country – towns and villages as well as major cities – why not?”
Nandy’s speech will come after research found that just 8% of those working in the film and TV sector are from working class backgrounds, while broadcasters have been under pressure to make more shows outside of London. Last month, Sherwood creator James Graham‘s Edinburgh MacTaggart address moved the debate front and center by querying why working-class representation is so low.
“Eight per cent – the proportion of working class people in TV,” Nandy will say this afternoon. “Twenty three per cent – the proportion of commissions made by companies based outside of London. Thirty per cent – the fall in trust in media over the last decade. None of this is inevitable.”
She will say both her department and the TV industry can “do our bit,” “with a new relationship based on respect for one another.”
Nandy is speaking on the same day as the likes of Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, who has just opened a new studio in the Midlands.
