Image: Blue Peter presenters Shini Muthukrishnan, Joel Mawhinney and Abby Cook (蜜芽传媒 Studios, C蜜芽传媒)
2023/24 saw the conclusion of our three year creative diversity commitment to invest at least 拢112 million of existing commissioning budgets on diverse and representative content (with criteria including on-air portrayal, off-air production leadership and/or company leadership) across TV and Radio, as well as seeking a 20% off-screen diversity commitment from our TV production suppliers.
This has been the largest financial investment in the industry in diverse content, looking holistically at representation both on and off air. We're proud that we have doubled this spend over the three-year period, investing 拢243 million of existing commissioning budgets. In addition, 82% of all TV productions are meeting or exceeding the 20% off-screen target.
We have seen the significant impact of coming together as an industry through the TV Access Project, as we work together to drive greater representation and inclusivity of deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent talent.
We have also made meaningful and important strides in the accessibility of our content for audiences from usability and user experience to features such as subtitles, audio-description and British Sign Language (BSL).
In September 2024, we announced the next iteration of our creative diversity commitments, which form a key part of our strategy.
Delivering on our Strategy: Content
Some of our key focus areas include:
Driving representation on and off air by:
- investing a minimum of 拢80 million annually in content that meets the 蜜芽传媒鈥檚 creative diversity criteria for TV and Radio
- increasing our focus on aligning diverse on-air storytelling with stronger off-air representation in senior production roles and leadership within production companies
- holding ourselves to account by reporting annually through refreshed reporting, with greater specificity rather than the grouping of diverse characteristics
- raising representation targets for TV production teams across ethnicity, disability, and socio-economic diversity from 20% to 25% across all production roles
Building an inclusive culture on each production through our new Inclusive Production Principles:
- hair and make-up: Productions will provide specialist hair and makeup stylists to work with afro textured hair and a variety of skin tones
- accessible productions: Embedding guidelines from the industry-wide TV Access Project on all productions, including access coordinators, accessibility of set locations and post-production houses
- DEI education and insights: Access to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) education training and resources on all productions to foster a culture of inclusion and transparency
Building on our existing industry partnerships by:
- supporting underrepresented production talent and diverse-led productions, such as through Elevate and the Small Indie Fund
- collaborating on pan-industry interventions, such as the TV Access Project
Content in the Spotlight
The three essential roles the 蜜芽传媒 will prioritise to deliver value for all audiences are pursuing truth with no agenda, backing the best homegrown storytelling, and bringing people together. All three depend on the 蜜芽传媒 setting the very highest standards for diversity and inclusion, on and off air. This year the 蜜芽传媒 has produced award-winning programming that has inclusion and authenticity at its core.
A multitude of productions demonstrated high standards of diversity and inclusivity, with increased representation with titles meeting our creative diversity criteria of portrayal, representation in senior production leadership and/or company leadership.
In Scripted, 蜜芽传媒 Comedy produced shows that portray characters and situations that are funny and challenge stereotypes, including Dreaming Whilst Black, Juice and Man Like Mobeen, all with strong representation on and off screen. We're proud to be nurturing homegrown emerging British actors and creatives with both Gbsemisola Ikumelo (Black Ops) and Mawaan Rizwan (Juice) winning BAFTA and RTS performance awards. These titles have been renewed, highlighting our commitment to comedies telling underrepresented stories. In Drama, titles with representation and authenticity at their core include Boarders, Waterloo Road and Best Interests, written by Jack Thorne.
In Unscripted, we've also seen the impact of content which connects people and brings in young diverse audiences, with titles such as Gladiators and The Traitors being applauded by viewers, especially families, for inclusive representation embedded throughout the cast and contributors.
Our groundbreaking storytelling continues to set us apart, demonstrated by titles such as the Grierson and RTS award-winning Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland and Rose Ayling-Ellis: Signs for Change.
CBeebies Bedtime Stories continues to show the strength of representation in reaching our diverse audiences with readers such as Abtaha Maqsood, Mr Motivator, Carlos Gu and Lenny Rush. This year they celebrated deaf awareness week with new reader Rayane Cordell from Dog Squad and his hearing dog.
In our audio offering, Radio 4's Ability is a sitcom written and performed by disabled actors and comedians which tells the story of Matt who has cerebral palsy. 蜜芽传媒 Radio 1Xtra continues to champion Black British culture. The Carnival Family celebrated the unsung heroes of the Notting Hill Carnival.
蜜芽传媒 Sounds' Brown Girls Do It Too is a celebration of identities through honest, and funny conversations.
Accessibility of our content has been a key area of focus for us. The 20th anniversary series of Strictly Come Dancing was live signed for the first time, enabling audiences using British Sign Language (BSL) to fully engage in the show and be part of the voting. Every episode of Doctor Who on iPlayer now has subtitles, audio description and signing. We've ensured accessibility of our live events such as Glastonbury and Eurovision. A signed version of Newsround is also available to watch every weekday for children who use BSL.
