Has female representation in TV actually improved, according to women in the industry?

The news grows even more dire when you look at the 2020 report on diverse writers in TV, which concluded that just 9.1 per cent of UK television writers are from BAME backgrounds, with figures dropping to 1.6 per cent for Black writers and even lower for South and East Asian writers and other minority ethnic groups.

But now in 2023, what does the industry look like for the women who work in it? Particularly, what does it look like to be a woman behind the scenes and in the writer's and producer's chairs?

For Emma Dennis-Edwards, the path to writing hasn't been clearly carved out. Going to drama school and training as an actor, she never considered herself a writer throughout those years and didn't "plan on doing it at all". But after the success of her plays Funeral Flowers (which won the Scotsman’s Fringe First Award in 2018 and toured the UK) and Bricks (which was shortlisted for the Alfred Fogan Award), she says that "it sparked an interest in TV people talking to me about what it is that I’m interested in writing and talking about".

Dennis Edwards continues: "I think television – in this country anyway – there’s an openness to ideas and new voices that perhaps doesn’t happen so much in theatre because of finances and resources."

Now, she is working on Boarders and Candice Carty-Williams's Champion, but has also most recently penned Channel 4 film Consent, which was a bold exploration into sexual violence, private schools and privilege. The one-off film saw Dennis-Edwards joined by up-and-coming filmmaker Nadira Amrani (Extraordinary), and executive producer and BAFTA Award-winner Aysha Rafaele (The Left Behind, Murdered by My Father).

Working with a close-knit team led by women of colour "absolutely" benefitted the process of making Consent, Dennis-Edwards states. "I think the three of us – Asian, mixed Middle Eastern and Black – those very specific experiences we had were very useful in creating this script and telling it in the way that we chose. I felt really really privileged to work with two really incredible women whose work I really admired as well," she says.

Writing a narrative centred around attending a private school was something that she knew nothing about, she admits, and was something she considered when approached by Rafaele. "But what I did kind of understand is what it is to be a Black girl in an environment which isn’t necessarily set up for you – which is kind of how I feel about television," Dennis-Edwards explains.

This need for authentic storytelling and hiring the right people in order to achieve that is something that has been majorly lacking in the past but is thankfully becoming "more the norm", she shares. But while Dennis-Edwards can't recall a time when she's "been the only woman or the only Black person in the room", she does say the attitudes towards her perspective and conversations had within the industry need to shift.

She explains: "In terms of working in television, a lot of the times when I am in a writer’s room where I am in a minority, essentially the perspective I’m brought in to give is the Black woman’s perspective, which can be quite problematic because I’m just one person who is often in those spaces representing an entire community."

She says that was something that was "really cool" about working on Champion, saying: "Everyone in that writer’s room was Black and Candice is Black so essentially, I’m not there to represent the community, I’m just there to be part of the conversation – which is where I think we need to get to."

While the most recent Ofcom report for diversity and inclusion in television and radio points to a minor increase in the overall representation of minority ethnic groups, when the data is broken down into specific ethnic groups, the stats get even lower.

Across the eight broadcasters, the proportion of Black employees was 4 per cent at an all-employee level and 2 per cent at senior management level, compared to 3 per cent of all people working in the UK. The report also highlights a persistent underrepresentation of people from certain socio-economic backgrounds.

Speaking about diversity efforts in the industry, multi award-winning British television producer and chief executive of Quay Street Productions Nicola Shindler OBE — who has worked with some of the most lauded names in television and created some of its most memorable series — said that "we're at the stage where there are a lot of people making a lot of effort to make it more possible for everyone to enter the industry".

She continued: "I don't think we're in any way in a finished place, where there's equality. And I think it's something that we have to be very aware of. And the broadcasters and the streamers are really aware of those issues as well. They are all pushing for more diversity and for more people to have access to the industry. So it's there and it's in process, but I wouldn't say it’s anywhere near mended."

With over 25 years worth of experience in television, Nicola has produced some of the UK’s most successful and award-winning dramas, including It’s a Sin, Harlan Coben’s The Stranger, Years and Years, Happy Valley, Queer As Folk and most recently Harlan Coben’s Stay Close for Netflix, No Return for ITV, and Traces for UKTV, to name just a few.

Her latest drama series, the first Quay Street Productions drama, is Nolly, which is written by Russell T Davies and stars Helena Bonham Carter as the inimitable Noele Gordon. Shindler says that "Nolly is always relevant because she was so extraordinary". "And she was so ahead of her time."

She continues: "She worked behind the scenes as well, she was a producer, she set up shows, she did astonishing things on screen before she went into Crossroads. There aren’t a lot of women like that now. And I think there is absolutely the probability that someone could get fired without any recourse. Nolly was an exception that no one could quite understand at the time.

"There is a more understanding attitude towards women who want to have a career, so I do think that's changed slightly. But god, the way she was treated, and the lessons that we can learn from that, are totally relevant today."

When she started off at the BBC as a trainee script editor, Shindler says: "The split was really clear when I entered the BBC, which was all script editors were women and all producers were men. And that's just the way it looked.

"It wasn't that it was a rule or anything, that was just the way it had been and I think because men had been allowed to advance faster than women before that, they had got to the level of producer. But almost all those women who came in as script writers who I met have gone on to do things, to also rise up. It was the times before us when it wasn't considered normal to have a female producer."

Renowned for her relationships with writers, Shindler has worked with an array of the UK’s most prolific and exciting writing talent including Davies, Sally Wainwright, Lenny Henry, Amelia Bullmore, Danny Brocklehurst, Sarah Solemani and more on series starring some of the world’s leading on-screen names.

She says: "I should absolutely acknowledge that I was very lucky in all the jobs that I did, and all the people I worked for. So I worked for some really supportive men because I was working for producers."

One of those early examples being her first assistant producer credit for Our Friends in the North, "which is really unusual in drama" but was because she was working with the "incredibly supportive" Charlie Pattinson who wanted Shindler to have a certain level of authority. But throughout her career, Shindler has been privvy to changing attitudes and has seen how things have changed over the years.

In the early stages of her career, she noticed an "overwhelmingly" large amount of scripts from men and only in the last decade has seen "women writers come through and be nurtured in the same way".

Prior to launching Quay Street Productions in 2021, Nicola founded RED Production Company in 1998, where she was Chief Executive for more than 20 years. She said that it "got to the point where I was aware when I was at RED [productions] that my development slate was not even close to 50/50".

"And that's when we stopped – and that was probably around 2010 to 2011 – and went OK, this is ridiculous. There are brilliant women writers out there. Let's find them. And let's make sure we're at least equal. Now, I would say, we're very equal, if not more women than men, it probably is about 50/50. But it definitely feels like that took a concerted effort from me on the inside of the production company."

While many would feel despair at the problems of the industry, Shindler says she didn't and just took on the responsibility "to make that effort". "I was embarrassed that I hadn't done it before really, that it needed to be said. All we do at first is just make sure that on every list for a prospective production, there would be at least one woman. And then from that it just grew," she explains.

"And all that meant was that I then made an effort to get to know more women’s work, writing and directing, and therefore I naturally wanted to work with more women. So it wasn't rocket science. It's just that it should have been happening all the time."

As a whole, is the TV industry changing and improving for the women within it? Dennis-Edwards says that it is "slowly but surely", referencing the 2018 WGGB report, saying that seeing statistics like that can leave her asking "What is the point? or "Is this ever really going to work?"

But it's something she snaps out of, she explains. "I just believe that ultimately the stories I am telling, although often are about the communities that I come from, are important and do matter. I think also what’s interesting about that is that for a lot of those women, it’s not for original ideas. There's IP from books, for example.

"It’s interesting because I get asked to read a lot of books, I get asked a lot about whether I’d be interested in adapting this book or that book. I think a lot of the time, women’s IP isn’t very valued in the same way as male writers. When I talk to male writer friends, they say, 'No, actually, nobody’s ever sent me a book.'"

Dennis-Edwards continues: "I guess when you’re still considered a ‘risk’ – and I think that’s what it is, the things that make you a risk in television are not being white and not being male. And I’m both of those things. It just means that actually an IP that already exists is a safer bet, right? Because if it’s a book, it’s already got an audience, people have already read it – it’s less risky to hand it over to somebody who might not necessarily be a white man. I think that’s what it is – mitigating those risk factors, particularly in commissioning.

"It often falls on writers when people say there’s not enough older women, for example, in roles with people asking ‘Why aren’t there more Happy Valleys?’ and it’s not for want of us trying. I think we are absolutely pitching stories of women from different communities, older women and more but the decision does not lie on writers, the decision lies with commissioners – that’s the tricky bit."

Shindler says that she's noticed a slight decline in female directors but still feels "that a lot of female writers are coming through", outlining that the biggest barrier for women in the industry is to make the "long working hours" and "inflexibility" work while having a family. "I think it's as basic as that really, and the demand for travel and being on set and physically being somewhere with absolutely no ability to get out of that, I think is really difficult. It is a physical, practical problem."

As for the biggest changes she's noticed in her time in TV, Shindler states that "it's been incredibly positive in terms of women feeling safer, and more looked after, and more listened to".

"There was an assumption when I first started that if someone was casually sexist, or came onto you, that it was just expected, and nothing could be done. And you just had to get through it yourself. And there was no one to talk to, and no one, in any way, would consider that you had any issues."

But in the last 20 years, Shindler has seen that there are people to help and talk to, as well as "lots of men who are taking responsibility and acting in a certain way and making women feel more comfortable". Dennis-Edwards similarly talks of the hope of some of the recent "kindness and generosity" that she's experienced to continue, referring to the "real care" of production and actors in Consent. She says one of the major things she's noticed is that "those things are being thought of" and it's "really exciting".

But when it comes to thinking of continuing writing for both stage and TV, Dennis-Edwards struggles to think of women who successfully do both. She says: "I look at writers like James Graham who I respect so much, who has just managed to do both. But when I think about women, I can’t really think of very many women who have been successfully able to do both, which is a shame."

Her advice for any future female writers out there is simple and should involve thinking "about the unique perspective that you offer". Her hopes for the future of the industry and being able to write in projects are simple: make space for voices in an authentic way that doesn't treat women, especially Black women, as a monolith.

For Shindler, she hopes that "we can create an industry where working and being a parent is possible, and that you don't have to compromise on family, and you can still achieve your goals in terms of your career".

These conversations remain as vital today as they were when Shindler was first cutting her teeth in the industry. While both women have identified causes for celebration as the industry continues to evolve for the better, there's still so much more to be done.

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