House of Commons - Television Broadcasting in Northern Ireland

Television Broadcasting in Northern Ireland - Northern Ireland Affairs Committee Contents

3 Production and Portrayal

Production

13. Northern Ireland is the most successful of UK regions, outside of London, in obtaining commissions from overseas.[8] Around 550,000 people work in creative media industries across the UK, and about 1.5% of them work in Northern Ireland. Most companies in Northern Ireland are small and medium-sized enterprises. Broadcasting in Northern Ireland employs about 1,200 people directly, and depends heavily on freelances.[9] Yet the evidence received by the Committee demonstrated that very few productions from Northern Ireland are commissioned from within the rest of the UK. Witnesses have repeatedly argued that a sufficient talent base and capacity exists within Northern Ireland for substantially increased production.

14. The independent production sector creates about 49% of UK television programmes, employs about 21,000 people and has a turnover of about £2bn a year.[10] Comparatively little of this happens in Northern Ireland, however. Research from the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (Pact) shows that BBC network production from Northern Ireland in 2007 represented just 0.2% of its total network programming; ITV1 production from Northern Ireland (excluding news) accounted for even less—0.1% of its total first-run network hours, with no network programming from independent producers; Channel 4 production from Northern Ireland also accounted for 0.1% of network hours; and Five, excluding news, had no network programming at all from Northern Ireland.[11]

15. In total Northern Ireland accounted for only 16 hours of network programming in 2007—less than one minute of network programming per 1,000 head of population, and lower than any other region of the UK.[12] Peter Johnson, Director of the BBC in Northern Ireland, accepted that Northern Ireland had not received sufficient attention in the past, given that 3% of the UK population live there:

historically the position has been that not enough of the BBC's output has been made in Northern Ireland. It has typically varied between half a per cent and 1% of the overall mix.[13]

16. The BBC has announced a commitment to increase its network programming from outside London to 50%, including at least 17% from the nations.[14] Although no specific target has been set for Northern Ireland, it is expected that at least 3% will be from Northern Ireland by 2016. It is estimated that this will put an extra £30 million into the Northern Ireland production sector. We welcome this commitment from the BBC, and we welcome too statements that these figures will be intended as 'floors', not 'ceilings'.[15] We note, however, that they are targets, not set quotas.

17. While the BBC's commitments in this respect have been broadly welcomed, several of our witnesses have suggested that the BBC is moving too slowly, and that the target of 3% production in Northern Ireland should be met sooner. There is also the question of whether the target should remain something for the BBC to aspire to or a mandatory commitment. Richard Williams, the chief executive of Northern Ireland Screen[16], asked us to "press for the BBC target to become a quota and to be brought forward from 2016 to 2012".[17] NI Screen has also argued that the BBC's pl ace as the major public service broadcaster would justify making its obligations mandatory, rather than voluntary.[18] On the other hand, UTV's Managing Director, Michael Wilson, pointed out that no one "turns on the television to watch quotas and targets, they turn on the television to watch quality programming".[19]

18. Quotas in themselves—whether measured by spend or by hours of programming—contain no quality guarantee. Nor, of course, do targets, but the looser framework they provide should enable the broadcasters to move towards the required output figure, while at the same time maintaining quality. We welcome the BBC's commitment to raise its level of production in Northern Ireland to a level broadly proportionate to Northern Ireland's population share of the UK. We note that it intends to do so by 2016, but strongly urge the BBC to make every effort to reach 3% of production from Northern Ireland more rapidly than that and to treat the 3% target not as a 'ceiling', but as a minimum.

19. Following the Ofcom Report, Channel 4 has increased its quota for out-of-London production from 30% to 35%, but this includes a target for the three devolved nations taken together of only 3%. When one considers that the three nations with devolved administrations, are home to 17% of the UK population, a target of 3% seems extraordinarily low. Channel 4 accepted that it had to date produced only a limited amount of work in Northern Ireland:

Based on available date Channel 4 commissioned 23 projects in Northern Ireland with a combined value of £4.3m from 1998 to 2007, and in 2008 Channel 4's factual network spend in Northern Ireland was £0.1m.[20]

20. The ITV network has a 50% quota for production outside London, measured both by volume and by spend, but there is no specific target for the nations. Ofcom has recommended that, in light of the financial deficit currently facing ITV, its out-of-London production quota may need to be revised down.[21]

21. When asked about quotas and targets for the three nations, and, in particular, for Northern Ireland production, the Minister for Creative Industries said:

I do not think it is true that Northern Ireland does not come out very well. I think it is reasonably balanced.[22]

We are concerned that the Government appears not fully aware of the extent to which Northern Ireland's production levels lag behind those in the rest of the UK. We recommend that the Government urge Ofcom to monitor levels of production from Northern Ireland by the BBC and Channel 4 to ensure that their targets, as public service broadcasters, are met as speedily as is practicable and without negative impacts on the quality of production.

22. One key issue that arose in much of our evidence, was the perception that the commissioning process is highly 'London-centric'. Our evidence suggested that the absence of significant commissioning from London was not an issue arising from doubt about the talent base within Northern Ireland. Stuart Cosgrove, Channel 4's director of Nations and Regions, told us:

the curious thing about Northern Ireland is that it has quite significant talent, world class talent.[23]

23. A further curious fact is that Northern Ireland appears to find it easier to obtain a commission from New York or Los Angeles than it does from London. The success of Northern Ireland in securing international commissions illustrates this point: among the share of commissioned hours in Northern Ireland, 81% was commissioned internationally compared with just 10% by the BBC, 6% by Cable and Satellite and 3% by ITV, C4 and five. Pact (Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television) research shows that over the past 18-24 months Northern Ireland had more hours of programming commissioned from international platforms than anywhere else in the United Kingdom.[24] Northern Ireland Screen told us that

companies have long faced a closed door in London (where the vast commissioning decisions are made).[25]

The independent production company, Below the Radar, states,

we have lost all faith in London-based broadcasters, particularly BBC nationally and Channel 4, to deliver on their targets for production in and portrayal of Northern Ireland. Our experience has been of a profoundly rigid mindset which considers events and cultural expression outside the M25 as inferior.[26]

Dawn Simpson, Pact's senior policy executive for Nations and Regions, similarly told us that London commissioners failed to value Northern Ireland broadcasters:

coming in for a couple of hours doing five minutes' speed-dating with the production companies does not set and build any relationships and they have a lack of understanding what the supply is…People recognise that there is talent here that can deliver, it is quality and they have got good ideas, but unfortunately the London-centric commissioner attitude has still not been broken through.[27]

Indeed, Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television suggested that this attitude will not change unless the major broadcasters base commissioners in the nations and regions, including in Northern Ireland:

we need a commissioner here who has got power and a pot of money to spend.[28]

24. Peter Johnson, the BBC's Director for Northern Ireland, accepted that "commissioning decisions drive everything", adding:

Having commissioners aware of the talent base and opportunities is very important…. we have appointed some new commissioning executives, one of whom is in factual for the independent sector [and] is dedicated to the independent sector here [in Northern Ireland].[29]

25. Dedication to the sector is to be welcomed. An obvious example is the success of the revamped "Dr Who" by BBC Wales in Cardiff; having programme commissioners based in an area is a means by which increased production and expertise within that area will follow. We strongly recommend that the Government ask the BBC seriously and urgently to consider locating a programme commissioner permanently within Northern Ireland with the express mandate of improving and increasing production from the Province.

Portrayal

26. Increasing the production from Northern Ireland would also alleviate the severe lack of adequate portrayal of life in Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK, and this concerns us greatly. There is very little, if any, portrayal of ordinary life in Northern Ireland. News and current affairs coverage have in the past concentrated largely on "the Troubles" and their aftermath. Drama, documentary and film, have also largely featured conflict. Northern Ireland has never produced a continuing series for broadcast on UK network television. Consequently, while life in England, Scotland and Wales (and even, if the slightly old example of Bergerac is borne in mind, the Channel Islands) has been portrayed across the UK, ordinary life in Northern Ireland, warts and all, has remained to some extent invisible. As Paul Connolly, managing editor of Independent News and Media, the publishers of the Belfast Telegraph, told us:

The people of Northern Ireland have triplets and quads the same as people in the rest of the UK, we commit domestic murders as well as political murders, we shop and buy stuff in the same way, but when we are portrayed on a national level none of that is shown at all and we do get the Troubles stereotype.[30]

27. Ofcom states that

Northern Ireland is barely visible on the UK networks and representation is often stereotypical.[31]

Mr Richard Hill, Chairman of Northern Ireland Screen, added:

Sometimes to get a Northern Ireland accent on the network is hard work, never mind a programme on the network that might actually be about Northern Ireland […] It is one thing to have our accents heard, it is another step to have, say, a returning drama series or a regular series in Northern Ireland as you might find in other parts of the UK.[32]

28. Reflecting UK cultural identity is a key purpose of Public Service Broadcasting. To fulfill this purpose, it must

reflect and strengthen our cultural identity through original programming at UK, national and regional level, on occasion bringing audiences together for shared experiences.[33]

29. Ofcom states that 80% of people in Northern Ireland viewed portrayal of the regions to the whole of the UK as "highly important" (the average across the UK was 61%).[34] It found that the gap between the importance of and satisfaction with portrayal was highest in Northern Ireland at 46% (compared with a UK average of 27%).[35] Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television found, in its independent research, that in 2007, that only 16 hours of network programming came from Northern Ireland. Scotland accounted for 298 hours and Wales for 99.[36]

30. Ofcom adds that, "while production and portrayal are separate issues, it is widely believed that if the amount of production from Northern Ireland were to increase, then portrayal would naturally increase as well".[37] We recommend that the Government seek to engage with broadcasters and producers so as more accurately to reflect life as it is in Northern Ireland in a way that is understandable throughout the rest of the UK. We recommend that the Government encourage the BBC and Channel 4 to use programmes made within the province for UK-wide broadcasting to address the lack of portrayal and to help ensure the people throughout the rest of the UK have a clearer perception of Northern Ireland - its people, its geography and wildlife, history and culture; and of its history and culture in times before "the Troubles".

8 Ev 59 Back

9 Ev 65 Back

10 Ev 56 Back

11 ^Ev56 Back

12 Pact Nations and Regions Report November 2008 Back

13 Q 5 Back

14 Ev 83 Back

15 Ev 83 Back

16 Northern Ireland Screen is funded by Invest Northern Ireland, the Department of Culture Arts and Leisure and the UK Film Council. It is delegated by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland to administer Lottery funding in Northern Ireland. It also administers the Irish Language Broadcasting Fund. Back

17 Q 208 Back

18 Ev 53 Back

19 Q 9 Back