Channel 4’s Leeds HQ will veto shows ‘nobody outside of London is interested in’ Channel 4 will ‘not just look different but will think and behave differently’, pledges chief executive Alex Mahon

Channel 4 bosses have promised that the broadcaster’s new national HQ in Leeds will prevent it from commissioning shows which appeal to a “metropolitan elite.”

Channel 4 will “not just look different but will think and behave differently,” pledged chief executive Alex Mahon, as the first of 300 staff begin work at the West Yorkshire office, which will commission new programmes, ranging from entertainment to current affairs.

Downing Street threatened to reassess Channel 4’s public service remit during the election campaign following a series of disputes between the broadcaster and Boris Johnson, who has snubbed Channel 4 News.

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‘Liberal bias’ claim

The move out of London will challenge perceptions that Channel 4 has a “liberal metropolitan bias”, said Ian Katz, director of programmes.

“The quality of our commissioning conversations has already changed. Every time we have a commissioning round now we have got Glasgow, Bristol and Leeds on the screen. People will frequently say ‘yeah, that’s a very good idea but nobody outside of London is interested in that.’”

The Steph Show, a new daily entertainment show broadcast live from Leeds presented by Steph McGovern, which starts this Spring, signalled “a real change in the centre of gravity” of the channel, Mr Katz added.

Leeds changing DNA of Channnel 4

A new factual series, Yorkshire: On The Job, filmed at a Jobcentre Plus in the heart of Leeds, aims to “find out what life is really like on the benefits frontline.”

Channel 4 News will establish a “news hub” in Leeds so the bulletin can be co-anchored from the city.

Ms Mahon said: “Leeds will really change it because you’re changing the types of people and background of those people who make editional, commercial and digital decisions.”

No senior Channel 4 executive will move to Leeds however, and the number of staff seeking redundancy payments in preference to leaving the capital is as high as 90 per cent in some departments.

Key creative decision makers responsible for commissioning Channel 4 content and programmes from producers right across the UK, including heads of drama and daytime, will be based in Leeds.

That has given more opportunities to digitally-skilled workers in West Yorkshire. Around 3,000 additional TV jobs are set to be created in the region with Channel 4 pledging to spend £250m a year on programmes made by out-of-London producers.

Ofcom backed Channel 4

The BBC this week promised that two-thirds of its jobs will be based outside London by 2027, meaning an additional 3,000 roles could be relocated.

Ms Mahon said Channel 4 was fulfilling its remit to reach young and under-served audiences.

She pointed to Ofcom’s rejection of a complaint from the Conservative Party about Channel 4 News’s climate debate, which used an ice sculpture to represent Prime Minister Boris Johnson after he refused to take part.

“Ofcom gave us a very clean bill of health on impartiality,” she said.