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Peter Salmon: Broader picture as BBC takes a new road to the North
WHILE a new BBC series of Last of the Summer Wine, the world's longest running sitcom, is about to begin shooting in the timeless Yorkshire landscapes around Holmfirth, the wider broadcasting landscape is changing at an ever increasing rate.
If you were to fly from Sid's Caf across to the Calder Valley in The Yorkshire Air Ambulance, with the BBC Yorkshire team making a new series of the popular daytime documentary Helicopter Heroes, you would come upon a crew employed on a new comedy Gemma Factor, now being shot in and around Hebden Bridge for BBC3 – part of the multi-platform digital world that was not even on the horizon when Compo first set eyes upon Nora Batty.
Over 30 series, the unique appeal of Last of the Summer Wine has been enjoyed by audiences across the country, but it is fair criticism to say that historically too much of our network production has been based in London and we have not invested enough in the development of talent and creativity in the North.
I am leading the biggest move out of London in the BBC's history and we intend to transform the organisation with a major network centre opening at MediaCity in Salford Quays in 2011. This will become the home of some of our most important programming including Children's, Sport and 5 Live Radio, as well as our Learning services and parts of our future media and technology development.
This represents a major investment and belief in the creative economy in the North and already in advance of the move we are developing new talent in Yorkshire and across the North to be in a position to develop the skills needed to access these new opportunities. In what is a very difficult climate, especially for young talent in the North, we will be out actively looking for talented people in the North for the new jobs which will be available.
While the BBC is rightly focused on making efficiency savings – we announced savings of 237m in our annual report – it is the licence fee that enables the BBC to play a vital role investing in the creative economy of the region. The report also showed how change is underway, with spending beyond the M25 rising, as part of our commitment to produce 50 per cent of programmes out of London by 2016.
I was surprised to read that Colin Philpott from the National Media Museum in Bradford (Yorkshire Post, July 15) should be advocating dramatically clipping the BBC's wings just as it is starting to fly in such an important new way for the North.
Such measures would hamper our plans to build and invest in partnerships with bodies like his, screen agencies, independent producers and new technology companies – of which Yorkshire has many fine examples.
We have established a network of partner organisations across Yorkshire and are working with Skillset and many others to provide the right kind of training for future employment opportunities – like our Series Producer Scheme, which this year includes Yorkshire indies True North and Rollem Productions. While our Writersroom is working in Yorkshire looking to develop the skills of the next Roy Clarke, Kay Mellor and John Godber.
The BBC Connect and Create Partnerships are working with universities and colleges across Yorkshire, for example; radio drama with Bradford, LMU students with BBC Archive,
and Trinity and All Saints with News and Current Affairs. Only the BBC, because of its unique funding, is now able and doing this wide range of important
work which can benefit the future of the whole creative sector.
I have already visited Bradford, York and Leeds and have spoken to many people about new opportunities as the BBC is changing and our aim to reach out to new audiences across
the North.
As well as Last of the Summer Wine and Gemma Factor, we also start filming a drama called 5 Days. This will be filming until October using locations in Wakefield, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield and Scarborough.
These productions are bringing jobs to Yorkshire. I am also delighted that Sheffield will host the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in December. All these
things are adding to our highly valued existing local and
regional news services across
the North.
I do not expect the transformation we are embarked on to happen overnight, but eventually the project's arteries will feed into all corners of the Greater North, invigorating the creative industries in the region.
What the BBC is aiming at is nothing short of a revitalisation of the whole creative sector outside London, boosting the regional creative economies and better spreading the economic benefits the licence fee brings.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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