The day after the Class Ceiling Report was launched in Manchester, arguing for legislation to ban class prejudice in the creative industries, and potentially even making class a protected characteristic alongside the likes of race, sex and religion, 17 UK broadcast and production big names have signed up to be the Edinburgh TV Foundation’s first tranche of Class Confident organisations.
We can’t allow yesterday’s report to take too much of the credit, despite the felicitous timing. The idea emerged from James Graham‘s 2024 MacTaggart address (pictured), and was built upon last year when a series of Class Confident Actions were drawn up by the foundation.
The charity behind the Edinburgh TV Festival, The TV Foundation, has now announced its founding Class Confident organisations, who have pledged to remove barriers for people from working class backgrounds to get into and stay in the TV industry.
The founding members are: All3Media, Banijay UK, BBC, BBC Studios, Channel 4, Fremantle UK, Hat Trick Productions, ITV, Multitude Media, Paramount, Purple Productions (part of Objective Media Group), South Shore, Studio Lambert, The Farm, The Garden (part of ITV Studios), XXIV Communications and Zinc Media Group.
READ MORE: Class bias in creative sector should be illegal or all art will be “posh art” new Greater Manchester report finds
To join, organisations must show how they are meeting the Class Confident Actions, a series of prompts to remove barriers for people from working class backgrounds to work in TV. The Actions were launched by The TV Foundation at the Edinburgh TV Festival 2025 and include putting class on the agenda of a company’s culture and leadership; bringing back job interviews in recruitment; levelling the playing field by paying the real living wage for entry level roles at the least; and supporting the next moves of staff with potentially longer contracts.
The TV Foundation’s report Let’s Talk About Class: Appealing to the UK’s Largest Audience, found that nearly one in four people in senior TV roles have the cultural and economic advantages of a private school education, over three times higher than the 7.5% of the general population who are privately educated.
Successful applicants will join a peer-learning network to share best practice and learn from the challenges they have faced. They will also benefit from discounted rates to the Edinburgh TV Festival 2026.
The TV Foundation is now inviting companies across the TV industry to apply to becoming Class Confident. The application form is available on the TV Foundation website. thetvfestival.com/tv-foundation/class-social-equality/
Gemma Bradshaw, impact director, The TV Foundation, said: “When we first started talking about working class voices in the industry it was a taboo topic. Now some of the biggest players in the industry are putting their hands up, ready to do more. We’re thrilled to see so many organisations already taking action to improve class representation and we’re keen to hear from more TV companies that want to join us. This is not a checklist or the end point; it’s the start of a movement to make the industry accessible to all.”
