More airtime for Yorkshire, as BBC fights 'southern bias'

As the corporation undertakes a major relocation to Salford for many of its staff, new programmes will be used to act as a "showcase" for the rest of the North.

BBC North director Peter Salmon will say the corporation has to break away from setting programmes in the South, or in anonymous places. He will outline efforts to give greater exposure to more northern locations in a keynote lecture to the Royal Television Society in Sunderland on Tuesday evening.

"We need to be better at representing people's lives on screen, so our new base in Salford will be a filter, not a fortress, ensuring the benefits flow to places like Leeds, Liverpool, Bradford, Sunderland, Hartlepool, Hull and York," he will say.

The BBC is making its biggest ever relocation, moving five major departments - including sport and children's programming - to Salford Quays. It is part of the aim to ensure at least half of all BBC production is outside London by 2016.

During his speech at Sunderland University, he is due to say: "Traditional methods of employing actors with all-purpose northern accents in programmes made and set in the south, or in a TV 'no-place' are just not good enough. People love seeing their own home town or region on TV too, they want the BBC to provide a credible voice and iconic locations that separate the authentic from the fake."

He points to shows such as CBBC show Tracy Beaker, which is set in Newcastle, as an example of how the BBC can successfully base shows in other cities. The new series will feature notable landmarks such as Antony Gormley's Angel of the North sculpture. Producers want the show to be linked with the city in viewers' minds, in the same way that Torchwood and Doctor Who are with Cardiff.

"Where we make great programmes like Tracy Beaker Returns in Newcastle, it's fantastic for the city, but surely we can do even more in future to represent our northern communities on screen and showcase locations that people recognise and identify with," Salmon will say.

Satisfaction with BBC programming declines the further away people live from London and the South-east, according to research. By making programmes around the whole of the UK the BBC hopes it can better connect with audiences.

Among programmes being filmed in the North-east to be outlined by Salmon are a new series of George Gently set in Durham and a documentary by Hartlepool poet Michael Smith called Deep North examining the region's Baltic and Viking heritage as part of BBC4's forthcoming Great Northern Season.