THE steel and glass cube of BBC Scotland's new headquarters at Pacific Quay in Glasgow glints in the low winter sun.
At a cost of £188 million, the five-storey building is at the cutting edge of digital design: through it runs a wide staircase
, a "street" where staff can gather for coffee on colourful couches. Sadly, word on the "street" could be better.
"There is a feeling that BBC Scotland is being made in England," said one person closely involved in the television industry.
At a time when BBC Scotland's physical dominance of our nation's media landscape has never been so impressive, the broadcaster's footprint on the network has been shrinking. The building may have been described as a "living, breathing, creative hub" by Ken MacQuarrie, the controller, but the actual output provides evidence that Auntie Beeb is beginning to wheeze.
Between 2004 and 2006 BBC Scotland's network productions fell from 6 per cent to just 3 per cent as popular long-running dramas, such as Monarch of the Glen, the children's drama Shoebox Zoo and the documentary strand Days That Shook the World, were all dropped.
Yet this week the Scottish Broadcasting Commission added to BBC Scotland's woes by highlighting in its interim report concerns about certain programmes presented as "BBC Scotland productions" for the network but which, as Blair Jenkins, chairman of the SBC, said, "have very little financial or creative connection to Scotland".
The SBC's concerns followed a report from Pact, the producers' trade association, which identified ten programmes credited as "BBC Scotland productions" but which they regarded as London productions. All ten centred around Jonathan Ross's film programme and spin-off interviews with Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep.
Viewers who spot the BBC Scotland logo on the final credits might be forgiven for thinking Mr Ross flew up once a week to record the show; but the credit is a legacy of a period in the late 1990s, when BBC Scotland was admired for producing film programmes and documentaries for the network, including Scene By Scene with Mark Cousins, the former director of Edinburgh International Film Festival.
When the film critic Barry Norman moved to Sky, the BBC put the programme out to tender. While the BBC network favoured Johnny Vaughan, BBC Scotland pitched and won with a series of pilot programmes presented by Ross, whose career was then flagging. Once won, BBC Scotland has maintained its credit, and as a spokesman said: "It has been a very important building-block for the development of BBC Scotland factual staff's expertise."
Until 2006, the BBC network tagged the programme on its returns to Ofcom, the government regulator, as a regional production. Since 2006 the BBC network has classified it as a "London" production, in line with changes to Ofcom's criteria for what constitutes a regional programme.
The divergence in opinion between the BBC and Ofcom on what constitutes a regional production allows BBC Scotland to claim credit for Waterloo Road – filmed in Rochdale, with English stars, and produced by a London-based company – on the grounds that Anne Mensah, the programme's executive producer, is now head of drama at BBC Scotland. As a BBC spokesman said: "Across the BBC, not just Scotland, there have been instances where the commissioning of continuing series has followed the executive production talent."
Lorne Boswell, the Scottish secretary of Equity, said BBC Scotland had "a dishonourable record" of tagging a programme as a BBC Scotland production when the involvement was minimal. While Dawn Simpson of Pact believes a programme's end-credits should more clearly reflect where the programme was produced: "Otherwise, I think it confuses the viewer."
The "BBC Scotland" credit at the end of Jonathan Ross's show may yet go the way of the test-card girl. A BBC review of network supply is expected to report to the BBC Trust in March, with Pact lobbying for it, and similar programmes, to be reclassified as a "BBC production". But a spokesman for BBC Scotland said: "I'm not going to speculate about specific programmes."
There are those working for BBC Scotland who believe it is in the grip of a malaise. Morale has been struck by a programme of 230 job losses, including 100 redundancies, over five years, as part of the corporation's £2 billion cost-cutting plan. There is also annoyance at the creation later this year of a Gaelic digital channel, which will cost £20.8 million per year – the BBC will contribute £10.7 million – to serve 58,000 Gaelic-speakers.
"I think BBC Scotland is going through a lean patch," said a BBC worker who did not wish to be named. "No-one would care about Waterloo Road or Jonathan Ross if BBC Scotland was also producing Monarch of the Glen, 2000 Acres of Sky, or other running network dramas. But it's not."
While gales both physical and political continue to blow round the BBC Scotland building there is, at least, a promise of warmer weather ahead. In September Mark Thompson, the BBC's director-general, made a commitment to raise BBC Scotland's network output to 9 per cent – which would mean a contribution to Scotland's TV industry of an extra £45-50 million. The question is: Can BBC Scotland deliver on dynamic ideas?
Time and the fickle nature of television viewers will tell. Production is about to begin on a raft of new dramas for the BBC network which will raise BBC Scotland's contribution above 3 per cent.
Hope Springs hopes to replicate the success of Hamish McBeth and Monarch of the Glen. The eight-part series, aimed at the same Sunday night slot, is about four female ex-cons who plan to escape to Barbados, but wind up hiding out in the Scottish village of Hope Springs. God on Trialis a single drama for BBC2 about a group of Auschwitz prisoners who decide to put God on trial for breaking His contract with the Jewish people.
But the one that has already raised eyebrows is the three-part detective series Wallander, which will star Kenneth Branagh as a Swedish detective. Though the material was developed by a BBC Scotland executive, all three episodes will be filmed in Sweden.
"It's depressing for production people to see money spent in foreign countries," said one producer. "They are having to travel to Manchester and Leeds to work on programmes and in the past there were enough productions to keep them busy in Scotland."
Yet Georgina Born, professor of media at Cambridge University, and author of Uncertain Visions: Birt, Dyke and the Reinvention of the BBC, said: "The BBC represents an ideal. People have a fixed idea of what it should be. It represents public interest, the best in drama and entertainment. It helps in our democratic debate, it's our champion.
"We bring an enormous set of hopes and ideals to the BBC, and are not realistic with our views as it falls short.
"I know the BBC has a tricky remit. I also know how careful the BBC executives try to balance this and I would give the executives at BBC Scotland top marks for trying, but it's a tricky thing to pull off."
THE INSIDER'S VIEWDAVID WIGHTMAN
SCOTTISH BROADCASTING COMMISSIONNow let's look to broadcasting's futureON MONDAY morning the commission published its first interim report. It outlined both the challenges and opportunities facing broadcasting in Scotland. It's clear there are issues for all those involved in the industry to address. As we've also published the transcripts of the oral evidence given, we have a real opportunity to stimulate debate and discussion.
With a background in the games industry, I've found that the process of evidence-taking has offered a real insight into the issues we need to consider. I've been struck by how much attention really does now need to go into the opportunities new investment could bring and how these could deliver real benefits for Scotland.
From the commission's point of view, with so much on the agenda, no single issue stands alone. We hoped to make that clear in our press briefing. The evidence we published on our website shows how detailed our work has been and that we've truly been able to probe and reveal information never before put into the public domain.
There's considerable work to do, and with the first interim report published, we're on to the next phase, considering the cultural importance of broadcasting and what viewers want from their TV and licence fee.
I hope people now focus on the future opportunities for the industry.
THE EXPERT'S INSIGHT PADDY HIGSON
PRODUCER OF CARDIAC ARRESTTime and money vital to Scots successON READING the interim report of the commission, it seems Scottish Enterprise is abdicating any responsibility for enabling the development of production companies in Scotland, and their input is essential if we are to turn what is a cottage industry into a truly efficient production centre, with enough resources to develop ideas to the degree required by network commissioners.
One of the major arguments from the BBC seems to be that Scotland – and I assume that means Scottish independents – is not producing "returnable" programme proposals.
This is almost certainly due to a lack of financial resources. To come up with a solid returning series takes time, the commitment of the broadcaster and the producer and a budget in the region of £100,000, which would produce a first-draft script of one episode, outlines of a further seven and a properly produced series bible.
I do not think there is a production company in Scotland which has the financial stability to invest that amount of money, and this kind of development should be done on more than one project at a time if we are to create a sustainable drama production base.
Until we can grow an indigenous production company, we will continue to see BBC Scotland investing £6 million in English re-makes of a Swedish detective series, shooting entirely in Sweden!
IN QUOTES "It's just not acceptable that networks which purport to serve the whole of the UK should marginalise the creative community in Scotland"
Alex Salmond, First Minister "Drama is crucial. It is the highest-value genre; it is where you get the most production funding, but it is also where you create the high-end skills that can benefit film and theatre as well"
Blair Jenkins, chairman, Scottish Broadcasting Commission "I think you have a talent exit problem. There's no shortage of very successful creative Scottish writers, directors, producers and executives in broadcasting around the rest of the UK"
Michael Grade, chairman, ITV "There is quite a strong sense within the industry that there are being attributed to Scotland (shows] which have very little financial or creative connection to Scotland"
Blair Jenkins, chairman, Scottish Broadcasting Commission "Film 2008 is a BBC Scotland production. But where's it filmed? Who's in it? What's it got to do with Scotland?"
Lorne Boswell, the Scottish secretary of Equity "BBC Scotland bid for and won the tender to make the series in 1999. It makes sense to film it in London, where the previews of cinema releases take place, but it has been a very important building block"
BBC Scotland spokesman "I have to defend Scottish programme makers' right to make shows that are not simply 'haggis and heather' productions. It is possible to be based in Scotland and to make shows all over the world"
May Miller, former creative director, arts and factual entertainment, BBC Scotland KEYWORDS BBC SCOTLAND PRODUCTION:
An elastic sticker capable of stretching across Monarch of the Glen written, produced and filmed in Scotland, to Film 2008 with Jonathan Ross, written, produced and filmed in London.
TALENT EXIT PROBLEM:
An ailment endured by the Scottish television industry, diagnosed by Sir Michael Grade and characterised by the proclivity of writers, actors, producers and directors hitching south. Nothing that can't be solved by an electrified fence, watchtower and dog-show poodles, of course.
JONATHAN ROSS:
"Scotland's" highest-paid TV presenter, who with a deal worth £18 million, towers over the wages of Kirsty Wark, Carol Smillie and Kirsty Young. BBC Scotland may claim the credit – but does it wish to foot the bill?
The full article contains 2056 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
