The BBC is marking 3 years of its “Across the UK” initiative, to boost production out of London.
In the announcement, it’s confirmed that BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends will move its production to MediaCity, the station has also commissioned a new Salford-made series, Café Hope, which will be hosted by Rachel Burden.
It’s also launching a new apprenticeship scheme in Glasgow, Salford, Cardiff and Birmingham next month, to help entry-level apprentices.
In 2021, the BBC stated that it would transfer £700m of spend outside of London, including moving 400 roles to the nations and regions, all by 2028.
So far, “more than 350” roles have been moved outside of London, with shows, including BBC News at One setting up production at MediaCity later this year. That means that half of the BBC News story teams are based outside of the capital, its Learning and Identity Unity is in Leeds and Tech is based out of Glasgow. A further North East technology hub has been established at BBC Newcastle.
The BBC said it had commissioned 515 hours of content in the next 12 months “representing and portraying audiences across the UK.”
In terms of the £700m, the BBC said that so far it had transferred “over £200m of expenditure outside of London.”
In 2022, 58% of BBC network television spend was outside of the M25, which is up 26% from the previous year.
Apprenticeships
The BBC has also announced a new apprentice initiative, to run in Glasgow, Salford, Birmingham and Cardiff from April.
This will see BBC early careers production apprentices across the country getting the opportunity to spend time with local SME’s, giving entry-level training experiences to future TV, radio, film and digital content makers.
Since 2021, over 1000 apprentices have gained production, journalism, technology and business skills, with the BBC running over 40 schemes with 35 learning providers, including Bauer Academy, Aston Birmingham University, Manchester Metropolitan University, Cambridge Spark, and BPP.
Television and audio
Nations and regions commissions include Virdee in Bradford, The Jetty in Lancashire, The Responder in Liverpool and Alma’s Not Normal in Bolton.
The BBC will also be introducing new end-cards to show where the programme has been filmed – much like Channel 4.
As well as the new commissions for Radio 4, there has also been invested in a new multi-site audio production hub in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast, which launches next month. This brings together teams working on network radio programming and has been set up to increase the volume of content that is made from Scotland and Northern Ireland.
“Our Across the UK plan is at the heart of our ambition to give more value to all audiences and tell the stories that matter where they live. We’re moving spend and decision making across the UK, with jobs and apprenticeship opportunities spread more equitably than ever before,” said Tom Wrathmell, Director of BBC Across the UK programme.
“This is not just about money and people though; it’s about creating sustainable creative clusters and talent pipelines both on and off screen and working with local and regional partners to grow opportunity and impact for all.”
