Tim Davie clarifies the BBC’s stance on Scottish productions amid scrutiny from MSPs
Edinburgh: Tim Davie, the BBC director-general, faced questions from MSPs about the BBC’s production criteria during a recent Culture Committee meeting. He was responding to concerns raised by Peter Strachan, a director at Directors UK, regarding the number of London-based staff involved in the show The Traitors.
According to Ofcom regulations, the BBC must ensure that at least 8% of network programming hours are produced in Scotland each year. The BBC counts The Traitors as a Scottish production to meet this requirement.
To qualify as a Scottish production, two out of three Ofcom criteria must be met. These include having a substantial production base in Scotland, spending at least 70% of the production budget there, and employing at least 50% of production talent in Scotland.
Davie mentioned that the BBC currently has 66 Scottish productions, but nine of them only meet one of the criteria. He expressed a desire to improve these numbers and increase investment in Scotland.
He emphasized that the BBC isn’t trying to manipulate figures, stating, “We’re not trying to game a number.” Davie aims to grow production in Scotland and create a sustainable ecosystem for the industry.
He acknowledged that while The Traitors brings tourism to Scotland, he wants more productions to meet the criteria for funding. Davie also noted that his goal is to shift more resources out of London, highlighting that a significant portion of licence fees collected in Scotland is now being spent there.
