Fewer than 2% of writers in British TV are black, survey finds

Fewer than 2% of writers working in British TV identify as black, according to a major survey of industry diversity that also revealed a dearth of senior positions for people of colour.

The Creative Diversity Network’s (CDN) survey of 30,000 respondents shows that within the world of British TV people of colour are still vastly underrepresented in decision-making roles and in key creative positions – such as writing rooms.

The research found 1.6% of writers working in UK TV identify as black, while 2.4% of production executives and 4.4% of series producers identify as black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME).

Despite the success of shows such as Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You and Steve McQueen’s forthcoming BBC anthology Small Axe, the survey paints a picture of a sector that is struggling with diversity both in front of and behind the camera.

Deborah Williams, CDN’s executive director, said three key things needed to change before UK TV becomes more equal: more diverse people need to be in decision-making roles, diverse talent needs to be able to move between roles more easily – for example, from a playwright to a TV writer – and talent must be able to write about more than just race.

“It will always be about who makes the decisions and what people think of as quality,” she said. “If you don’t write about Windrush or slavery or police brutality or gangs, then you’re telling black stories that are not considered to be authentic.”

Another major area of concern for Williams are “craft” roles, such as lighting and set design, where there were so few contributions being made by people of colour that CDN was unable to publish data on them. Williams said nepotism and a lack of open and transparent recruiting was hampering diverse candidates from being considered for those roles.

The CDN survey, which is compiled from data gathered by all the major TV channels in the UK, showed that since 2017 total on-screen contributions from people of colour have increased from 21.8% to 22.7%. But Williams said that was a simple thing to change for TV makers, and that sustained change would be harder.

She said: “You can fix that problem really easily by finding lots of black and brown people to put on your screen. But where’s the depth in that? How do you make sure that it continues? Where does that go?”

The survey also found that diverse on-screen talent was still unlikely to be working with BAME directors, even though in the past three years there has been an increase from 9.7% to 12.3% in off-screen contributions.

British television has reacted to the Black Lives Matter movement by rolling out a series of initiatives. In June, the BBC announced it would spend at least £30m of its annual television commissioning budget on “diverse and inclusive content”, while ITV hired Ade Rawcliffe as its group director of diversity and inclusion.

In August, David Olusoga used his MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV festival to give an account of his time in an industry that was “still blind to the realities of racism”. Williams said BLM and other interventions had begun to slowly change attitudes within the industry.

“I think it’s as bad as it’s ever been,” she said. “But everyone’s now talking about it, which is the difference. People are acknowledging it and talking about it and there is less resistance when people try to find solutions.”