British TV’s Working Class Problem Is At Both Junior & Senior Level — Diamond Report

Research from the Diamond diversity monitor has revealed the scale of the UK TV industry’s working class problem, and found that the problem infects both the upper and lower echelons of the sector.

According to the first-of-its-kind report from the broadcaster-backed Creative Diversity Network’s (CDN) Diamond, people from a working-class background made around one quarter of programme contributions for the year to March 31 2026, well shy of the 39% national average. Around 13% of contributions were made by people who went to private school, nearly double the national average.

The industry doesn’t appear to discriminate over class whether a role is junior or senior, with 26.8% of junior contributors working class compared with a similar 27.4% senior. However, a far greater proportion of senior industry employees went to private school compared with junior.

The figures also broke down genre contributions by class.

In terms of on-screen, the worst offending genre was children’s, with just 16.8% of contributions made by people from a working class background. Drama was second bottom with 22.7% working class contributions, while the only genre in line with national average was current affairs at 39.1%.

Notably, current affairs was at the other end of the scale for those working behind the camera, with just 19% of contributions making it the least class-diverse genre for off-screen.

Overall, genres like lifestyle and factual entertainment were best represented class-wise, genres that Creative Diversity Network (CDN) boss Miranda Wayland claimed are less in vogue, which she said could “make our industry even less representative.”

The report that examined 180,000 programme contributions to UK TV shows compiled via 12,000 diversity forms spotlighted the scale of the improvement required for the industry to reflect the make-up of the UK as a whole.

British TV’s class problem has long been debated and Sherwood creator James Graham used his 2024 Edinburgh MacTaggart lecture to accuse the industry of being “squeamish” on class and on defining class. Back then, he called for class to be recognized as a “specific characteristic in our diversity monitoring forms,” which it now has, per today’s report. Diamond, which is backed by major broadcasters and indie groups, publishes annual reports into UK TV industry diversity and has compiled separate research into areas like ethnic diversity and disability.

Wayland, a former Amazon and BBC diversity chief, said the industry has for a long time relied on “guestimates and anecdotal evidence about socio-economic representation in the UK television industry.”

“Now, for the first time, Diamond is providing the data and evidence confirming that coming from a home where your parents had a professional background, or being privately educated gives you a head start into a career in television and helps you progress,” she added. “We hope that broadcasters, production companies and other bodies will use this data, just as they have with other Diamond data, to shape policies to help make our industry a level playing field for creative talent from every household.”