According to the Diamond Report, the number of female writers and directors on British television shows fell between 2016 and 2022

The contributions of female writers and directors to British television have gone in the wrong direction over the past six years, according to a worrying report from the broadcaster-backed Diamond Project.

Between 2016 and 2022, British female writers’ contributions to British television programs fell by more than 10 percentage points to less than a third, while female directors’ contributions fell from 26.9% to 25.3%.

The disappointing new study comes after Diamond reviewed six years of diversity data. In 2020/21 in particular, the panel noted a “significant decline” in the proportion of female writers working in the industry, which it attributed to the disproportionate impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly on those further up the chain .

In addition, female writers, directors, and producers/directors were significantly less likely to work at peak times than their male counterparts. Female writers were particularly poorly represented in comedy (30.2%), while female directors fared poorly in children’s books (26.2%) and entertainment (21.2%). Female writers were more represented in drama, at 54.4%, which Diamond says is “in part because they are more likely to work on long-form dramas.” Celebrated British scribes include: From Happy Valley Sally Wainwright and I hate Suzie Co-creator Lucy Prebble.

Diamond uses a “contribution” metric to account for the fact that many series have multiple writers or directors. Although one in three directors (33.3%) identified as female, the proportion of director contributions was much lower, suggesting that they are underutilized even when appointed. This is the case for all UK broadcasters, Diamond said. Paramount, which owns Channel 5, for example, had 47.5% female writers but only 22.4% contributors in 2021/2021.

When examining ethnicity, Diamond found that the total number of black, Asian and ethnic minority directors and writers rose by a third to 14% over the six-year period, while contributions rose by a smaller amount, from 6.1% to 8.7%. .

The proportion of black, Asian and minority ethnic writers on UK programs peaked at 15.6% in 2020/21 but fell the following year, “possibly due to broadcasters’ efforts to tap into the Black Lives Matter movement respond.” said Diamond.

Even more convincingly, contributions from LGBTQ+ writers recently increased from 8.9% to 31.6%, with gay men particularly well represented.

Deborah Williams, head of the Creative Diversity Network, which oversees Diamond, said initiatives to diversify writers and directors “have not had the intended impact.”

“It is very sobering to see that the number of women in these roles is actually decreasing during this time and other groups are not getting the opportunity to do bigger budget shows at prime time,” she added.