The Edinburgh TV Festival charity, The TV Foundation, has released a report looking at working class representation in the TV industry that shows that 22% of those in leadership roles went to fee-paying schools.
The figure covers people in leadership roles across the UK’s major broadcasters, streamers and large production companies. Just 7.5% of the general population go to fee-paying schools.
The report was commissioned after James Graham’s 2024 MacTaggart lecture that brought the lack of working-class representation in the TV industry under the spotlight. The research was compiled by approaching 21 of the UK’s biggest Indies, major broadcasters and streamers to ask for data about the education background of senior level staff, as well as engaging with various experts and academics, for further anecdotal and evidence-based insight.
Class cuts across everything. The TV Foundation’s work recognises that the enduring stereotype of what it means to be British and working class often ignores intersectionality. Instead, the report highlights the shared cultural and economic experience of working class communities across the country. The report argues that working class audiences are TV’s largest potential audience, yet they can feel underserved and their lives either represented by outdated tropes or not at all. However, with the current crisis facing the TV industry and additional factors, broader DE&I commitments are being thrown into chaos. Combined with prospects tougher than ever for those already working in, as well as those hoping to enter, the industry, it is having a very real effect on the likelihood of redressing this balance behind the scenes and threatens a route to a monoculture that doesn’t represent audiences at all.
The TV Foundation’s report also covers the business case for improving the mix of people working in the industry. Using anecdotal evidence and recent examples, it sets out the argument of where representation has shown a significant uplift in viewership and audience sentiment and ultimately a benefit to business interests.
Gemma Bradshaw, Impact Director of the TV Foundation, said: “Since starting the class and social equality working group, we have heard many difficult and painful stories about the hurdles in people’s TV careers that were all the bigger because of their class background,” Bradshaw explains “It’s hard to talk about class, and we want people to feel more confident to do that, to share what they value and how they see the world. Because when we have, we’ve also heard many bold and even joyful stories of individuals and teams that understand their working class audiences and have the culture and leadership to do more. “The aim of the report is to move the conversation about class up the agenda, making it business critical and provide companies with the inspiration to move away from talking about people in terms of their “cultural fit” or “risk” and start talking about what they bring, their “culture add”, showing how bringing a working class lens behind screen can play into a programme’s strengths on screen.”
To read the full report click HERE
Jon Creamer
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