I’ve just come off yet another phone call about what I think of Danny Cohen as the new controller of BBC1, I’ve actually lost count of how many conversations I’ve had about it. “What do you think this will mean for docs?”, “What about LE and Drama?”
It’s the type of industry gossip that we all delight in. Everyone has their own pet theories based on their interactions with Danny or a few funny anecdotes that are doing the rounds about his time at BBC3. We are all trying to divine his master plan for the nation’s most popular channel by extrapolating a previous BBC3 commission or from what his favourite sandwich filling is meant to be.
But for my black friends and colleagues the same set of questions keeps cropping up “What do you think this means for multicultural programmes?”, “What does this mean for diversity at the BBC?” the bottom line is “What does this mean for us?”
There were similar conversations following all the recent upheavals at Channel 4.
While these conversations with my BME colleagues can be fun they point to a wider and more depressing problem. It’s like talking about the weather or Arsenal’s defence. We have a view on it, it affects our lives but we can do nothing about it. We passively receive the news and wait for the seasons to change (for better or worse).
For the most part black people who work in television (with a few notable exceptions) are still spectators. Watching others dictate the programmes that are commissioned and the films we work on. Whilst we continue to discuss what the new appointments will mean for us we ignore the elephant in the room: when are BME people going to be given one of these high profile blue ribbon appointments? Or, perhaps more modestly, when are we going to break the glass ceiling of producer and series producer? The BBC’s own figures show that most BME’s careers seem to “plateau” at this lofty height, and I’d be surprised if the finding isn’t similar at C4 and ITV. A depressing finding when one considers all the effort that these organisations put into diversity. At least once a month I attend managements meeting where diversity is on the agenda at the BBC.
Just over a year ago I attended the Edinburgh Television Festival session “Get Me A Black Controller”. On the panel were Pat Younge, Aaquil Ahmed, Krishnan Guru-Murthy,Charlie Hanson and Jana Bennett. While the panel discussion was lively and full of passion no one seemed to think that a new black controller was coming any time soon. One person even joked “I never thought it was going to be more difficult to get a black controller that a Black President”.
Danny’s vacation of BBC3 would therefore be a wonderful opportunity for the BBC to now show that a BME controller is not more difficult to achieve than a Black President. There is, in fact, a wealth of talent to choose from. Maxine Watson, Lucy Pilkington and Angela Jain are three women of colour with considerable commissioning experience. All three would make excellent controllers. Angela for example has a robust and exciting track record at E4 commissioning the mega-hit “The Inbetweeners” and responsible for bringing the very bright Glee to Britain’s grey shores. A quick Google search of Maxine and Lucy also demonstrate similar edgy insight combined with strong, wide experience. They could all do the job comfortably. And there are others waiting in the wings for an opportunity to climb the ladders that Danny has rocketed up.
So next time I pick up the phone to a friend asking my opinion on Danny Cohen I won’t take part in the usual parlour game of “what does this mean to black people”. Instead I’m going to start the new parlour game and ask what BME person do you think is going to replace Danny at BBC3.
(First published on TheTVCollective.org 17/10/2010)
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