THE disparity in the BBC’s spending between Scotland and England has been described as “alarming” as the broadcaster has allocated less funding to Scotland despite increasing its licence fee intake.
In July, the BBC published its annual accounts for 2024/25, which showed that while licence fee income from Scotland rose by 5% to £311 million, from £297m in 2023/2024, its network spend in Scotland decreased by 23%, from £114m in 2023/2024 to £91m in 2024/2025.
The accounts also show that while the BBC allocated less funding to Scotland, it increased its network spend in England by 12%, from £1685m in 2023/2024 to £1855m in 2024/2025.
Writing for the Sunday National, Peter Strachan, who sits on the board of trade body Directors UK, argued that the disparity in spending between the two nations is “alarming” because the BBC had previously pledged to direct more network money to Scotland.
Strachan said that BBC Scotland is “refusing to focus its support” on genuine Scottish production companies, as he highlighted that London HQ-ed firms have been commissioned to work on some of the broadcaster's new dramas.
Previously, the veteran director looked at eight dramas commissioned by BBC Scotland: Granite Harbour, Nightsleeper, Shetland, Vigil, Mint, Counsels, Grams, and The Young Team. The latter three are set to be funded from the soon-to-be axed River City’s budget.
His research showed that nearly 43% of above-the-line roles, which include positions like directors, producers and writers, were held by London-based creatives, while less than 42% of the same positions were held by those based in Scotland.
Although Strachan said the current dramas in the production pipeline have done a far better job of hiring senior Scottish talent, more needs to be done to support Scotland’s screen industry.
His comments come after The National revealed that there were no Scots hired for the Spider-Man 4 shoot in Glasgow in creative roles.
Strachan said: “Ultimately, filming at locations in Scotland, or with a bare minimum, box-ticking amount of Scottish screen talent, doesn’t make movies and TV programmes Scottish.
“Productions originating in Scotland should be a priority for Scottish public funding. More investment and opportunity is required.”
