The Stage

BBC3 pledges to produce all drama outside London

Published Tuesday 20 April 2004 at 13:10

BBC3 is to make all of its drama programmes outside of London, providing hundreds of extra jobs for production talent and technical staff in the regions, controller Stuart Murphy has pledged.

The move has been made voluntarily by Murphy to boost creativity in the north of England and is above and beyond the strict conditions regarding regional output that were imposed by government before the digital youth channel could be launched.

Said Murphy: “I want to represent the stories that are out there regionally. I do not think these voices are heard enough.”

He is continuing the legacy of the recently departed director-general Greg Dyke, who in June last year vowed to spend more licence fee money on dramas made in the north of England in an attempt to counter what he saw as a declining regional commitment from ITV.

However, some critics saw this as an empty promise when, one month later, publication of the BBC’s annual report revealed that the Corporation had missed its regional target of making a third of all programmes outside of London and the south east.

This prompted mounting pressure on the BBC to move more of its production out of London in order to support talent in the rest of the country and end accusations of favouring the capital.

Now, a spokeswoman for BBC3 has added that even if a drama were to be commissioned from an independent company based in London, such as Hat Trick, the company would be asked to use production facilities in the north, to encourage creativity and create more jobs in the regions.

Among the first commissions to be produced after the announcement, Brief Lives, about the ‘murkier end’ of the criminal justice system, is to be filmed in Manchester and Leeds, while forthcoming police series Blue Blood will be set in Manchester.

Culture secretary Tessa Jowell gave permission for the launch of BBC3 in September 2002, imposing binding commitments to showcase new talent and ensure that homegrown drama and entertainment represents the majority of the output. Other conditions included a stipulation that 33% of the channel’s programmes be made outside of the M25.