The Stage

BBC faces criticism for ‘ghettoised’ black and Asian output

Published Tuesday 7 September 2010 at 16:18 by Matthew Hemley

BBC Radio has come under fire for its “token” commissioning of dramas by and featuring black and Asian artists, with both the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and Equity criticising the lack of diversity in the Corporation’s output.

Both unions took the opportunity to highlight their concerns in individual responses to a review being carried out into BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and BBC 7 by the BBC Trust.

In its response, the guild said the BBC has a “tendency to ghettoise”, claiming the Corporation will often broadcast a “black drama” rather than a “drama which just happens to be about black or Asian people or the whole ethnic mix”.

While it acknowledged that Radio 4 has some good sitcoms which “just happen to be about black or Asian communities”, it said some of its members had complained the BBC’s commissioning of black or Asian writers is often a “token exercise”.

The guild said: “The BBC commissions a black or Asian piece of writing, puts it in an unpopular time-slot, it doesn’t find an audience, and then the BBC says ‘There you are, nobody really wants this sort of thing’.”

Meanwhile, Equity described the axing of the soap, Silver Street, on the Asian Network - and a proposal to close the station - as a “great loss to Equity’s Asian members”.

It said: “At present, very few British Asians are offered broadcasting opportunities within the BBC’s mainstream output. The proposals to close the Asian Network and attempting to incorporate Asian talent within other BBC radio stations may lead to the evaporation of the BBC’s focus on championing new work for Asian artists.”

The union also said that if BBC Radio is to “expand and grow” it must make better use of digital technology.

It added that commitments made in the BBC’s strategy review earlier this year to fund more content must be “applicable to radio drama”.

The Writer’s Guild echoed this, and called for a “significant chunk” of money highlighted in the strategy review for content to be used for the “expansion of drama commissioning across Radio 3, 4 and 7”.

It added that it has concerns about a trend on BBC Radio away from creative fiction to dramatisations of true stories and stage play adaptations.

“A stage play does not guarantee good radio,” it said.

The guild also called on the BBC to get the “balance right between encouraging new writing and supporting and maintaining experienced writers”, urging the BBC not to “ditch the latter for the sake of the former”.

The BBC Trust’s consultation on Radio 3, 4 and 7 closed last month. A report setting out its conclusions and any changes that will be made to the services will be published towards the end of the year.