Authentic ?

The BBC seems to have made yet another big strategic decision in somehow merging control of the commissioning budgets of "Content" and "Nations (and regions)".  It's wrapped up in the usual verbiage, so much so that it's hard to work out if it puts Kate Phillips (Director of Content) or Rhuanedd Richards (Interim Director of Nations) in ultimate control. It's not clear what problem it's solving, or what the desired outcome is - a problem critics have laid at the door of previous "Across The UK" initiatives. 

Traditionally, Nations commission regional programmes for a handful of slots across week on BBC1 (which is why we still have different regional editions of the Radio Times). For examples, last Friday night, viewers in Northern Ireland got a comedy panel show, The Blame Game, inserted before a later running of the Graham Norton Show. BBC1 in Scotland has been showing repeats of soap River City in place of The One Show on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and inserting Scotcast into late night schedules.  Tonight, while most of us watch Celebrity Masterchef at 9pm, viewers to BBC1 in Wales get the second part of a documentary, Cannabis Cove. 

There's been a sort of regional "Me Too"-ism about spreading the spend of the licence fee around the country. It seems no regional team will rest until it's got its own female detective drama in plots spawned by Vera with a support team cast by the Spotlight DEI algorithm - one old, one of 'ethnicity', one disabled, etc - with a director skilled in following cars through the countryside with drones.  

Rhuanedd is in no doubt this latest move is important:  “It is widely recognised that in recent years the BBC has significantly improved how we authentically represent and portray the people, communities and nations of these isles - but we want to go further.

“By spending more of our budget on homegrown storytelling and ensuring that more decision-making happens closer to audiences, we believe we can become even more relevant, distinctive and loved by audiences everywhere."

Rhuanedd worked in various roles for Plaid Cymru over 14 years, including five and half as Chief Executive.