UK TV Industry Diversity Report Reveals Disappointing Progress

Commitments made by UK broadcasters following the Black Lives Matter movement of summer 2020 have failed to generate embedded, structural change in the UK TV industry, according to the latest Diamond diversity report.

Paul Moore, chair of the Creative Diversity Network (CDN), which compiles the annual reports, expressed disappointment with the recent decline in representation of Black, Asian, and minority ethnic people both on and off screen. Moore stated that progress has stalled or drifted backward since broadcasters made major promises more than five years ago.

According to the report, the percentage of on-screen roles taken by Black, Asian, and minority ethnic actors and presenters has plateaued since 2022 at 23.2%. This represents a disappointing trend, as the industry had initially seen an increase in diversity following the Black Lives Matter movement. The off-screen representation of Black, Asian, and minority ethnic people has also fallen by 1 percentage point to 13%, which is comfortably below the 17.9% national workforce average.

The report’s findings are a major disappointment to those working to improve representation for non-white people in the UK TV industry. It comes a year after a weighty study found that Black professionals were experiencing systemic racism and faltering career progression, despite years of industry diversity initiatives.

Among the major networks based in the UK, Paramount, which owns Channel 5, had the lowest proportion of contributions from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic people. In contrast, the BBC topped the list for on-screen representation, while Channel 4 led in off-screen representation.

The proportion of non-white people in senior roles has also fallen since 2022 to 12% and remains stubbornly at 2019 levels. The report found that last year, this group took up only 10.9% of executive producer roles.

However, there were some positive trends in the report. Lead actors from non-white backgrounds hit 34.9% last year, almost double the national workforce average. Writers from non-white backgrounds were also up at 21.3%.

Moore emphasized the importance of tracking diversity data over time to expose where progress has stalled or drifted backward. He stated that the real power of Diamond lies in its ability to look beyond headlines and track changes over time to expose where progress has stalled or drifted backward.

The Creative Diversity Network is revamping Diamond, allowing for improved reporting, which will come into force later this year.