For a good while people across the West Midlands have been giving the BBC a clear message – they want to see more of our programmes made in the region, and audiences want to see more of themselves in our content.
We get it – and it’s why I was so pleased to be in Birmingham today to announce a new commitment to the wider region which will see more money, more jobs and more BBC programmes coming to it.
I have signed an agreement with Mayor Richard Parker at the Bond Building, at the heart of Birmingham’s buzzing creative centre in Digbeth.
Back in 2021 the BBC made our first agreement with partners in the West Midlands to transform the creative sector in the region, and we have already delivered on its promises.
Visiting the city today I was heartened to see the progress being made. In terms of the BBC, we have started work to move our regional Midlands HQ to the new Tea Factory site in Digbeth and relocated several key TV productions here too.
It is such an exciting time for the area, with new companies and productions joining this vibrant creative quarter all the time.
Audience favourites Silent Witness and MasterChef have gone into production from new bases in Birmingham, while BBC Radio 1Xtra and BBC Asian Network have further increased their presence in the city, boosting the BBC’s impact in the West Midlands.
Just this week we unveiled the new MasterChef studios, which have their home at Digbeth Loc, building anticipation for the new series which features a new presenting line up.
Today’s new agreement is in partnership with the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and Create Central. It will ensure that, by the end of 2027, BBC network television production spend in the region will almost double from £24m to £40m a year. It’s a seriously ambitious commitment.
The WMCA is committing to invest a minimum of £5m per annum until 2028 for activities that will grow the burgeoning creative sector here. That’s something that gives me great confidence in our joint commitment.
And today we announced two new dramas for BBC iPlayer and Daytime to be produced out of Birmingham: The Hairdresser Mysteries and Detection Club, with The Hairdresser Mysteries to be filmed here in the West Midlands.
These programmes will provide new opportunities to support local skills and boost talent in the region, bringing jobs and investment. We also want them to act as anchor for more media and entertainment businesses to invest.
This week we also launched a film which celebrates our commitment to supporting storytelling from across the UK, with some special Midlands moments.
It features Peaky Blinders and Guz Khan and it’s a real love letter to the places which have inspired some of our most iconic TV shows and characters.
I want people with ambitions for careers in TV and film in the West Midlands to know that the BBC is committed to championing the region as a world-class centre for production.
So, I am working closely with local leaders in this renewed partnership, to ensure a significant boost to our investment in skills, opportunity and talent for local people, as well as to stories that are rooted in the region.
Recent analysis shows that the BBC’s additional investment in the West Midlands since 2021 will bring an extra £282m of economic benefit to the region by 2031.
It’s an economic impact that is now set to grow even further following today’s agreement – our biggest commitment to the region in over ten years. And we are just getting started.