Rhodri Talfan Davies

This disunited kingdom: How do broadcasters respond to a fragmenting Britain?

Rhodri Talfan Davies, John Whiston, John Curtice, Kirsty Wark, Chris Banatvala, Alex Mahon

The threat to UK television from US streamers is growing, but there is also danger closer to home – the potential break-up of the country and a subsequent loss of “Britishness”. If indepen­dence movements flourish and the UK starts to fragment, how should broadcasters and producers respond? 

BBC Nations' serious bid to reach past the M25

Rhodri Talfan Davies (credit: BBC)

It is regarded as the BBC’s biggest transformation in decades, as the corporation prepares to further shift its centre of gravity away from London in favour of the likes of Birmingham and Newcastle.

In March, Director-General Tim Davie pledged to better reflect the UK’s nations and regions by moving expenditure amounting to £700m by March 2028 and hundreds of jobs outside the capital as part of a new “Across the UK” strategy.