Staff working on series such as Doctor Who to move into new division – with plan to transfer out of the publicly-funded part of the corporation

The BBC is giving the green light to one of the biggest shake-ups in its history by hiving off production of its hit shows such as Doctor Who and Mrs Brown’s Boys into a new outfit called BBC Studios.



Last summer director general Tony Hall announced his ‘compete or compare’ proposal, which was designed to help keep programme-making talent at the BBC and allow it to compete in the digital world against rivals such as Netflix and global production companies.

The Guardian has learned that the BBC is to go-ahead with the plans, which are being phased in a two-step process.

First of all it will create a new BBC Studios division within the publicly-funded corporation that will contain the drama – including staff working on hit soap EastEnders – entertainment, comedy and factual programme-making departments.

BBC Studios will be headed by a yet-to-be-appointed leader who will report to Hall and the new outfit will take between six and 12 months to set up.

The remaining departments – Salford-based children’s and sport and current affairs – will remain within the BBC and be managed by BBC North and BBC News, respectively.

The second stage, which is being proposed but will need sign-off from the BBC Trust, government agreement and a change in the BBC’s charter, is for BBC Studios to transfer out of the publicly-funded part of the BBC.

It would become a separate subsidiary of the BBC group, operating at arm’s length.

In exchange for then being allowed to make programmes for other broadcasters, the BBC is proposing opening up its schedules more to the independent production sector and removing the quotas it currently has that guarantee 50% of shows go to in-house producers.

Details of BBC Studios are still being worked out, not least the fact its name as there is already a commercial subsidiary of the corporation called BBC Studios and Post Production, which manages the studios the corporation owns.

Despite cutbacks, the BBC’s production division is still one of world’s largest TV production studios, with about 2,500 staff and the changes will be a huge undertaking.

It is understood that the corporation is also working on safeguards to ensure that the new BBC Studios cannot be privatised or bought by other companies, as has happened in the past with parts of the corporation that were spun off such as BBC Resources and BBC Technology.



Some staff and executives are opposed to the move and are asking how some of the detail will work in practice.



Some will be working on shows that the BBC will keep in-house, such as EastEnders and Strictly Come Dancing, but the staff themselves will be part of the new BBC Studios.

Gerry Morrissey, general secretary of technicians’ union Bectu said the BBC must ensure that the new entity cannot be sold off: “Unless they come up with something that gives us a cast-iron guarantee that it remains within the public sector then we will oppose the plans by whatever means necessary up to and including action.”



The BBC declined to comment.