The BBC and other UK broadcasters are facing renewed pressure to improve their representation of ethnic minorities, after more than 50 leading creative figures including Lenny Henry, Idris Elba and Meera Syal called for more radical action.
In a letter sent to the BBC director general, Tony Hall, and the executives in charge of ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and BSkyB, they urge them to ringfence money for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) programmes a move so far resisted by the broadcasters.
The signatories leading figures from British TV, film and theatre such as Emma Thompson, Alan Bleasdale, Richard Curtis, Stephen Daldry, Russell T Davies and Richard Eyre said recent initiatives to improve BAME representation on and off screen announced by the BBC and ITV were welcome but did not go far enough.
They said they were dismayed at the disappointing numbers of BAME people on and off screen, quoting figures that only 5% of those working in the UK creative industries came from such backgrounds, against 12.5% of the total population.
"In order to redress this imbalance, we believe that the training, mentoring and development schemes recently announced, although welcome, are not sufficiently radical to effect significant change," the letter states.
"We propose, therefore, a solution that would almost immediately stimulate growth throughout the BAME creative community: a ringfenced pot of money for BAME programmes.
"Ringfencing money would not only guarantee results, but also create a more stable space for BAME talent on screen and behind the camera."
Henry, the actor and comedian, criticised the TV industry's "appalling" record on diversity earlier this year and launched a campaign to urge broadcasters to ringfence money to improve BAME representation on and off screen, highlighting how such initiatives had helped boost TV production from outside London. Support for the so-called Henry plan has been growing across the UK creative industries since then.
In July, Hall announced a range of new BBC measures aiming at improving its diversity performance, including an executive development scheme, more traineeships and a £2.1m diversity creative talent fund for the development of ideas from BAME individuals across all genres.
Henry, who has agreed to join a BBC diversity action group panel chaired by Hall, has welcomed the BBC's commitment to diversity training but expressed concern that the BAME development fund risked "blaming the victim for their victimhood".
Peter Fincham, ITV director of TV, has said the broadcaster will aim to match the ethnic makeup of the UK on and off screen. ITV's commissioning team have been given on-screen diversity targets for the first time this year and the broadcaster has signed up to the Creative Diversity Network's commissioner training programme from BAME individuals. However, Fincham has distanced ITV from committing itself to output targets, with Broadcast magazine reporting him as saying he would "prefer to make a real change without externally imposed quotas".
This week BSkyB committed itself to the most stretching diversity targets of any big UK broadcaster, announcing that by the end of 2015 20% of the stars and writers of its UK-originated TV shows would come from a BAME background.
The letter, which was drafted before Sky announced its diversity initiative, states that ringfenced funding is preferable to quotas as it is "about quality of programming, not quantity".
"Money is only spent when quality projects are identified not to fill a quota," the letter says.
"The major broadcasters have already set targets for the number of programmes produced outside London, and in the nations. To increase ethnic diversity we are asking you to look at what has worked before and extend it for BAME communities."
