New report reveals systemic barriers faced by Black professionals in UK TV Industry

A new report from researchers at Aston and Nottingham Universities, Pact, the Film and TV charity and Black Leaders in Film highlights the systemic barriers faced by mid-career Black professionals in the UK television industry.  

The ‘Black in Focus’ report reveals how despite numerous diversity initiatives, these often focus on entry level workers, while career progression remains a serious challenge.   

Black workers are often excluded from senior roles, despite years of experience, due to entrenched informal hiring networks, tokenistic diversity schemes, and a workplace culture that tolerates microaggressions and discrimination.

The report highlights how a lack of access to industry connections, mentorship, and career progression structures leaves many Black creatives feeling isolated, stigmatised, and mentally drained. 

• 53% of Black Professionals feel that diversity and inclusion has remained unchanged or has worsened in the last ten years.  

• 92% of Black professionals said they had experienced at least one incidence of racism in the workplace. But 45% said that they felt that they would not be able to speak up in reporting racism or discrimination 

• Around half (49%) of all respondents had never been encouraged to apply for a more senior role, rising to a 65% of those in the first ten years of their careers. 

• Class remains a significant barrier to progression, 83% of respondents with parents in more working-class roles reporting lack of support from leadership in their progression, compared to 73% of the more middle-class cohort. 

Widespread use of informal hiring practices in the television industry continue to disadvantage those without industry connections, while systemic racism holds Black workers back.  

The report confirms an urgent need for systemic reform. Creative workers need transparent promotion structures, protected grievance processes, mental health support, and meaningful accountability mechanisms to dismantle institutional racism, not more empty diversity rhetoric.