The performing arts union Equity has vowed to fight a BBC proposal to stop recording The Archers in Birmingham, with Equity general secretary Paul W Fleming branding the plan a “hollowing out of BBC facilities in the West Midlands”.
The proposal comes as the BBC says it will no longer include an audio drama studio at its new Tea Factory site in Digbeth. The Archers, the world’s longest-running drama, has always been recorded and produced in Birmingham and the West Midlands, where the programme is also set.
Equity met the cast on Monday after BBC bosses shared the news, and the union says cast members are angry about the plans and will fight them.
‘An outrageous move’
Fleming said: “This outrageous move by the BBC would be a further hollowing out of BBC facilities in the West Midlands, which is already reeling from the loss of Doctors with no serious scripted work planned for production.”
He said recording the programme in the region where its story and characters are based was “integral to the show”, warning that the “short-sighted proposal” would “disrupt the programme and leave the West Midlands, and the BBC, poorer”.
The union has also signalled it is ready to escalate. “The union is not a bystander in this bad decision for artists and audiences,” Fleming said. “If dialogue cannot produce a satisfactory outcome, all industrial tools remain on the table.”
Tea Factory ‘downgrade’
Fleming described axing the audio drama studio as “a material downgrading of BBC infrastructure in Birmingham and the West Midlands”. It follows the end of the BBC drama Doctors in 2024, another West Midlands production that provided valuable work for Equity members and gave many actors their first step into scripted work.
Equity is now lobbying BBC leaders and politicians for a fully developed Tea Factory site that can drive the local economy, meet the BBC’s commitment to invest in every region of the country and keep The Archers in Birmingham.
Calling for the plans to be reversed, Fleming said: “The Archers must stay in Birmingham, the Tea Factory must include an audio drama studio, as promised, and the BBC must stop cutting scripted drama and opportunities for our performers and creatives. Equity will be working with local policymakers to ensure the BBC is held accountable – with a Labour government demanding devolution and growth in every postcode, this decision is unfathomable.”
He added: “Eddy Grundy’s schemes have more integrity than these proposals.”
Lowest share of the licence fee
Equity points out that the West Midlands already receives the lowest share of BBC licence fee spending of any region, despite being home to the UK’s second city.
The union argues that public support for the arts is foundational to attracting private investment, and that cutting production capacity has a negative multiplier effect, making it harder to build a local workforce and driving future investment elsewhere.
