Cat Lewis

Our Friend in the North West: Cat Lewis

Cat Lewis (Credit: Nine Lives Media)

The £6bn post-pandemic boom in TV and film production is welcome news amid the uncertainty caused by the freeze to the BBC licence fee and the planned privatisation of Channel 4. 

The global expansion of content platforms and the UK’s fantastic reputation as a country that delivers excellent programmes means that there is more TV and film being made here than ever before. But there is a problem: we are predicted to have a shortfall of 40,000 creative-sector workers by 2025. 

Our Friend in the North West: Cat Lewis

MediaCity in Salford, Greater Manchester, began its rapid expansion into a world-­leading TV production centre 10 years ago, when BBC staff moved in soon after Dock 10 launched its new studios and post-production business.

Back in 2007, when Salford City Council and the Peel Group won their joint bid to house the BBC’s new northern base, I received a call from a very animated Felicity Goodey, the main visionary behind the project.

Defining diversity: More than a numbers game

ITV press advert published on 19 September (Credit: ITV)

If you thought that defining diversity was easy, think again. As the chair of a stimulating and thought-provoking RTS event, Aaqil Ahmed, formerly the head of religion and ethics at the BBC, concluded: “Diversity in itself is diverse. For me, that understanding of it isn’t there for a lot of people.… It’s not a numbers game… diversity is very complicated.”

Throughout the “Defining diversity? That’s easy” session, attempts to provide a definition that all the panel could agree on proved elusive.

Defining diversity - it’s more complex than a numbers game

“Diversity is all of us,” said Creative Strategy consultant Ally Castle, a former programme maker and audience insights expert for the BBC.  

“If you look at the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act (age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity) we all have those characteristics.  

“It’s just that some of us are under-represented in the TV industry, on screen and perhaps in wider society.