Our governments must stand up for the TV industry

The National

14 hours ago

Refusing to screen Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, the forensic investigation of the targeting, detainment and torture of medics in Gaza, the BBC stated 'that broadcasting this material risked creating a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect of the BBC'.
Thankfully, Channel 4 stepped up to the plate. If you haven't already, I urge you to watch this film on the channel's video on demand service. It's an exceptional and authoritative piece of current affairs journalism.
Over on the BBC iPlayer, you can watch Surviving October 7th: We Will Dance Again which has just been selected as the Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary at the 46th News and Documentary Emmy awards that recognise excellence in American television programming.
READ MORE: 'He belongs in The Hague': Keir Starmer fiercely criticised over Gaza speech
It is an unflinching, moving account of the brutal assault on partygoers at the Nova Music Festival, one of the sites in Israel attacked by Hamas on October 7, 2023, when some 1200 civilians were killed and another 251 taken hostage.
Both are important films that contain searing testimony, strong language, graphic violence and disturbing scenes. Both combine outstanding reporting and documentary storytelling to provide authoritative insights into the killing and trauma that will take generations to overcome, if ever. But one of them isn't being shown by the BBC. Problem is, with genocide, there can be no impartiality. It is a criminal act.
The controversy surrounding the shelving of Doctors Under Attack, and another, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, isn't the only reason why the BBC is presently under the cosh.
It has just decided to transmit the latest series of MasterChef despite sacking presenters Greg Wallace and John Torode, the former for inappropriate behaviour of a sexual nature, the latter for using racist language. Taking into account the contestants who will have poured their culinary souls into the making of this series, these two despicable men will be on our screens for a bit longer yet.
(Image: BBC)
Many of the freelancers who experienced or witnessed their offensive behaviour will not have wanted to be FOBB-ed off. Fear Of Being Blacklisted is rife among the television freelancers who actually make these programmes, especially just now when 57% of factual off-screen talent can't find work, forcing many to abandon their hard-earned careers.
The Film and TV Charity 2024 Looking Glass Survey paints a bleak picture of the state of mental health and wellbeing among professionals working behind the scenes in the UK. Around 30% of freelancers surveyed had thoughts of taking their own life in the past 12 months.
For one TV freelancer, it was tragically too much. John Balson, a producer, who took his own life last May, told numerous health professionals he was having suicidal thoughts and flagged 'work-related stress' on several occasions to them in the weeks leading up to his death.
I recently spoke with a counsellor who has supported more than 350 desperate film and tv freelancers, and a number of Scottish freelancers have reached out to me this year to share their experiences of being bullied, gruelling working hours and conditions or suffering unfairly at the hands of their bosses.
Television can be an extremely toxic place to work. If one executive has a bad word to say about a freelancer, usually made in passing, often received second or third hand, without any substantiation or opportunity to respond, they're out. There's little care or formal protection for broadcast freelancers. When they finish a contract, they simply disappear, increasingly not to another job.
When it comes to hiring and firing practices, television is essentially the Wild West. But it doesn't have to be this way. For the past 12 months, Dr Richard Wallis from Bournemouth University's Centre for Excellence in Media Practice has been embedded at Fremantle, a large London-based multinational television production and distribution company. The Supportive Off-Boarding pilot scheme he's been running is designed to provide much-needed support through the introduction of short, structured conversations offered at the end of a freelancer's contract. Including space to say thank you, exchange feedback, reflect on personal development, and discuss what's next. Crucially, it's led by someone outside the direct reporting line, so not a line manager or the show's producer. What a tremendous difference this would make if adopted industry-wide.
Meanwhile, Directors UK, Pact, BBC Studios and ITV Studios have established the Directors and Producers Forum, agreeing a set of engagement guidelines for better ways of working aimed at ensuring film and TV directors are treated in accordance with nine agreed best practices. This includes the creative role of director being properly respected, the provision of adequate prep time and health and safety safeguarding being of paramount importance.
These guidelines must now be backed up with a formal reporting process with qualifying productions displaying a broadcasting kitemark at the end of the credits in the same way as for Albert certification, the system developed by Bafta for sustainable production in film and television.
Distracting from all the brilliant films and programmes that are made by the BBC, with Charter renewal on the horizon in 2027, I fear the controversy over the Gaza documentaries and presenters will have a profoundly negative impact on the future of public service broadcasting (PSB). There are big decisions to be made soon about how it will be funded.
Recent pronouncements by the DCMS are deeply worrying, not least because of the UK Government's refusal to stand up to the growing power of American tech giants. The broadcasting regulator is complicit too. This week, Ofcom told the PSB's survival is a question of being more visible on TikTok and YouTube, a platform that pockets 55% of the ad revenue generated by content creators.
The UK Government recently published a Creative Industries Sector Plan full of hyperbole and very little detail or concrete measures to support Scotland's film and TV production talent. Millions of pounds will be poured into training for jobs that do not exist. Scotland's already highly skilled and experienced talent, anyone over the age of 40, is being written off.
There's a blind faith that the gods of Createch will come good. But Google, Netflix, Amazon, Meta et al are not our friends in this respect. Only regulation will ensure there's a level playing field. The forecast isn't promising, and unless our Governments stand up for us, Scotland's film and TV production talent won't flourish.
If you are having thoughts of suicide, please reach out for help, speak to someone you trust or call one of these helplines: Samaritans: 116 123 (available 24/7) Breathing Space: 0800 83 85 87 (available Monday to Thursday 6pm to 2am. At weekends, open between Friday 6pm and Monday 6am) NHS 24 mental health hub on: 111 (available 24/7)
Peter Strachan is a Bafta-nominated film director and producer who sits on the board of trade body Directors UK