The TV industry is at “a tipping point” in addressing diversity, accelerated by the impact of coronavirus, Bafta chair Krishnendu Majumdar has claimed.
Speaking at Ofcom’s Big Debate: Small Screen virtual conference, the academy’s first non-white chair said: “The pandemic has thrown up huge challenges that unfortunately affect people from under-represented groups more.”
Majumdar urged PSBs to keep investing in improving diversity through initiatives such as the BBC’s £100m investment in BAME-created content.
The year of lockdown and the Black Lives Matter protests has set the industry “at a tipping point, where we can’t go on like we have,” he said.
“We are in danger of going one step forward and two steps back, but if we can push through, keep the pressure on the PSBs and they can show true leadership from the top with real, financial investments, that will pay off,” he said.
Majumdar recently wrote to Bafta’s 9,000 members promising change, having undertaken a wide-ranging review into a lack of diversity.
The Bafta chair, who co-founded Me+You Productions, said he had “broken down and wept” upon hearing stories of more than 400 people from underrepresented groups who had been “hounded out of the industry”.
He added: “It was really humbling and affected me but has driven me on to campaign and drive the change.”
