BBC TO MOVE KEY JOBS AND PROGRAMMES OUT OF LONDON

The BBC is to move some of its key departments and staff outside London to make the corporation more reflective of the UK as a whole. It said its plans represent a "top-to-bottom change" and its biggest transformation in decades. In detail, entire departments and news divisions will be moved to Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, Glasgow, and Salford. The BBC's 22.000 employees, many of whom are currently working from home, were briefed on the plans on Thursday.

The plans include a new version of BBC One tailored for audiences in Yorkshire, the North West and the North East of England; and two new soap-style network drama series - one from the North of England and another from one of the Nations - produced over the next three years, among other changes.

"Our mission must be to deliver for the whole of the UK and ensure every household gets value from the BBC," said Tim Davie, Director General of the BBC. "These plans will get us closer to audiences, create jobs and investment, and develop and nurture new talent,"  he added.

The programme will see for the first time the majority of the BBC’s UK-wide TV made across the UK, not in the traditional broadcast centre in London, amounting to at least 60% of network TV commissions by spend. The company will also move a significant part of its news production to centres across the United Kingdom, ensuring, it claimed, that it can cover the stories that matter most to audiences and more effectively representing different voices and perspectives.

“BBC had been an essential part of the UK's culture, democracy and creativity for almost a century, and had faced some of its toughest moments over the last year. Now, as we look to the future, we must play our part in supporting social and economic recovery; rebuilding the creative sector and telling the stories that need to be heard from all corners of the UK,"  Davie concluded.