Britain’s TV industry will not survive unless it diversifies as viewers will switch to streaming services if shows do not connect with them, Lisa Nandy has warned.
The culture secretary said it was clear the TV industry had a “major problem” with diversity, given the last survey on class found only 8% of people in the industry were self-defined as working-class compared with around 45-50% of the population.
The statistics are even worse when it comes to race, with only approximately 3% of directors in the TV industry coming from a black background.
Nandy fears that, if people continue to rely on streaming services, Britain will become a fragmented society. Speaking to the Guardian, she said: “If the shows that [they] make don’t look like and feel like the country, if they’re not relevant to people, if they don’t directly connect with people, then they’ll switch off.
“And that’s what we’re seeing. We’re seeing people leaving TV to go to either streaming [services] or online and that in itself is really dangerous, not just for the TV industry but for the country, because it’s atomising.
“I really think that TV won’t survive unless it addresses this question.”
This is the second time as culture secretary that Nandy has warned TV industry leaders about the lack of diversity. She admitted the amount of information the government had on diversity within this industry was “very, very poor” given there are a lot of freelancers.
So as part of her three-step plan, the cabinet minister hopes to bolster statistics on the industry’s workforce, as it will be “difficult to make excuses when the information is there in black and white”; expand the government’s “creative careers programme”, which Labour has already done in its first budget; and promote the “national story” initiative, which launched on Monday.
The creative careers programme is designed and led by industry, funded by the government to raise awareness about the range of jobs available. Since 2023, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has provided funding so that insiders can work with teachers, parents and careers advisers to help young people who do not have connections to the industry to find ways in.
It was launched under the Conservatives in 2023 and received £3m of investment in the budget last month. However, it remains the case that younger adults from working-class backgrounds are four times less likely to work in the creative industries compared with their middle-class peers, according to the Sutton Trust.
The charity’s research also revealed the extent of the problem in the UK’s arts and music industries. It said that 43% of Britain’s bestselling classical musicians and 35% of Bafta-nominated actors went to private schools, despite the fact that just 7% of British people attend such schools.
“This is about going to schools and helping young people to get not just the skills that they need but also just the belief that this industry is for them,” Nandy said. “Attracting young people from diverse backgrounds into the industry is one thing, but if what they then find is that they can’t progress, then we’re not doing them or us any favours.”
As part of the final step in her plan, Nandy hopes her national story project will thrive, as a means of “bringing in some of the most thoughtful people to have a much better debate about how we deal with problems that governments for decades have been promising to solve but haven’t”.
She added: “I strongly believe governments don’t change things, people do, but they need a government to walk alongside them and partner with them to do it.”
Addressing concerns about funding for grassroots music venues, the culture secretary said she “obviously” wanted to implement statutory levies on arena and stadium tickets to help raise funds, but first wanted to see if the industry could “get its own house in order”. Nandy added that the voluntary levies were showing “promising signs of success”, having met the musician Ed Sheeran and other industry leaders to discuss this.
The Commons culture, media and sport committee has welcomed the government’s backing for a levy to support the struggling grassroots music sector but has called for ministers to set a clear deadline for the industry to act. Last month, the committee said that if no significant progress were made it would hold a hearing with the sector in six months’ time.
Nandy also noted the government was considering various funding models to help struggling freelancers in the industry, given the vast amount of unpaid internships.
