The Future of Specialist Creative Labour: the case of the BBC’s Department of Religion and Ethics

This paper examines the future of specialist in-house production departments within the BBC, focusing on the case of the Department of Religion and Ethics. This research argues that specialist departments that are not central to the economic and strategic needs of the BBC face a difficult future. Reasons for this include greater cost pressures, a strengthening independent sector and a change in the occupational culture of creative work with respondents in this study declaring that specialisation in television is “out of fashion”. Furthermore, the acquisition by BBC Worldwide (the Corporation’s commercial arm) of 25 per cent stakes in a number of independent production companies sets an uncomfortable precedent for in-house producers. Any changes to the current production of content within the BBC would have important implications for the Corporation’s approach to Public Service Broadcasting, while also impacting more widely on talent development in the creative industries. Therefore, through historical analysis and interviews with key personnel in the Department of Religion and Ethics, this paper argues that the long-term future of specialist in-house production within the BBC is very much under threat and this will have significant repercussions on the future of creative work within broadcasting.