Six independent production companies from Scotland and 11 from the North are among the 40 indies that will receive support from the Small Indie Fund and the Radio & Music Indie Development Fund.
All companies will receive strategic investment from a total £1.3m pot, mentors from the commissioning teams, and a programme of introductions to wider BBC teams, to help them grow and develop their ideas and businesses.
Four of the companies – all from the North East – will be supported by the Digital Accelerator, a new partnership between the BBC and North East Screen Industries (NESIP) designed to grow and strengthen the region’s digital production sector. With £600,000 total funding, the programme aims to fast-track the growth of digital-first content companies in the North East.
The four companies will receive ongoing support from BBC and North East Screen teams, including mentorship, editorial and business guidance, to help them scale up and deliver high-impact, market-ready digital content.
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David Pembrey, BBC Content’s chief operating officer said: “Partnering with a wide range of UK independent production companies is essential in delivering a distinctive, authentic content offer for our audiences. All of these initiatives – which support content right across our platforms and genres – were highly competitive, and we’d like to thank everyone who expressed interest as well as congratulate the producers who have been successful.”
Launched in 2020, the TV Small Indie Fund supports the growth of small independent production companies from across the UK with turnovers below £10m across scripted, unscripted and children’s. This year also introduced an additional digital opportunity for production companies and studios who are looking to develop digital media content across a range of genres and platforms.
29 companies in total (23 for TV and 6 for Digital) will be supported through the fund and receive a total of c £1.1m. Meanwhile, the BBC’s Radio & Music Indie Development Fund is supporting 11 recipients of the fund, worth £250,000 in total, and all based outside of London. The cohort is made up of indies that between them deliver speech and music content and each company will be supported by bespoke mentoring from a BBC commissioner for 12 months.
Companies selected for the 2026 TV & Digital Small Indie Fund, Radio & Music Indie Development Fund and the North East Digital Accelerator from our region are:
Scotland
- Bespoken (Radio & Music)
- Compact Ltd (TV)
- F22 Films (TV)
- The Big Light (Radio & Music)
- Unified (TV)
- Whistledown Productions (Radio & Music)
North of England
- Adventure Alliance Films – North East (Digital Accelerator)
- Audio Always – North West (Radio & Music)
- Button Down – Yorkshire and the Humber (Digital)
- Cosmosquare Films – Yorkshire and the Humber (TV)
- FilmNova – North East (Digital Accelerator)
- Made in Manchester – North West (Radio & Music)
- Northern Child – North East (Digital Accelerator)
- Runt Films – North West/London (TV)
- Salt Street Productions Ltd – Yorkshire and the Humber (TV)
- Wander Films – North East (Digital Accelerator)
- Zandland – North West (Digital)
