SCOTLAND’S Culture Secretary has said he will meet with the BBC and Ofcom amid “shocking” claims that the BBC’s flagship reality show The Traitors is counted as a Scottish commission despite the majority of its staff being based in London.
It comes after a post on LinkedIn from director Peter Strachan, which is making waves in the Scottish media world, in which he said that the BBC was “not commissioning fairly” and the money spent on The Traitors “isn’t translating into a fair level of job opportunity across the UK”.
Ofcom regulations mean that the BBC is obligated to ensure that “at least 8% of the hours of network programmes made in the United Kingdom are made in Scotland” each calendar year.
Further, the BBC must ensure that “at least 8% of the expenditure of the BBC on network programmes made in the United Kingdom is referable to programme production at different production centres in Scotland”.
In order to qualify as made in Scotland, two of three Ofcom criteria must be met. These are that the production company must have “a substantive business and production base” in the country; at “least 70% of the production spend” must be in Scotland; and at “least 50% of the production talent (i.e. not on-screen talent) by cost must have their usual place of employment” in Scotland.
Strachan, who sits on the board of trade body Directors UK, questioned whether these criteria were being met in the case of The Traitors.
He claimed that Studio Lambert, the London-based firm behind the show, had 81% of its production team for the show based in London – which he said was not “in the spirit” of Ofcom’s regional production guidelines, even if budgets ultimately meant it did meet the criteria.
He added: “This is the tip of the iceberg. We have found many other supposedly Scottish productions are failing to create jobs for broadcast freelancers in Scotland.
Culture Secretary Angus Robertson said the reports were “shocking” and that he would intervene.
Sharing Deadline’s story about Strachan’s comments, he wrote: “This is a shocking report and raises serious questions for the BBC and Ofcom. I will be seeking meetings with both.
“Scotland’s growing screen sector has been a success story in recent years and must not be undermined.”
Screen Scotland Director David Smith told entertainment reporters at Deadline that his team is “actively engaging” with the BBC and Studio Lambert regarding The Traitors.
Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer said there were "serious questions for the BBC to answer".
"Ofcom production quotas for nations and regions exist to give everyone outside of London a fair chance, but the Scottish quota has been consistently abused," he said.
In November last year, Screen Scotland published a report which found that the BBC meets its Scotland TV quota using mostly London-based production companies.
The BBC initially declined to comment, but later said: "As per Ofcom's regional production definition, The Traitors qualifies as a Scotland production and is clearly made in the Scottish Highlands, as viewers will know.”
An Ofcom spokesperson said: "We take the Made Outside London regulation very seriously. We are continuing to conduct monitoring and have ongoing discussions with the BBC.
"More broadly, our chief executive and group director for broadcasting and media met the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture in November and talked about a range of issues, including support for the production sector and Made Outside London rules.
"We'd be happy to continue these discussions with the Scottish Government and Screen Scotland."
Robertson had previously campaigned, alongside counterparts from Wales and Northern Ireland, for Ofcom to bring in an out-of-England quota for Channel 4 that reflects population share.
However, the representations from the nations were ultimately overlooked as Ofcom brought in regulations that will only require Channel 4 to spend 12% of its Budget outwith England, instead of the representative 16%.
Channel 4’s annual report for 2023 said it spent £663 million on content, £520m of which was for original productions. As such, the 4% gap likely represents a figure in the £20-30m bracket.
