THE Culture Secretary has challenged TV industry leaders to create more opportunities outside London in places like Bradford.

Lisa Nandy also urged the sector to employ more people from working-class backgrounds and pointed to the success of shows made outside the capital, like Peaky Blinders, which often use local casts, crews and production companies to create jobs.

The BBC show was partly filmed in Bradford - a place the likes of Netflix, ITV, and movie production companies have used down the years.

Ms Nandy highlighted how Bradford is also known for its "buzzing" arts sector.

In a keynote address at the Royal Television Society (RTS) London Conference on Tuesday, the 45-year-old, said: “For all of the efforts made by many of you in this room, it should shame us all that television is one of the most centralised and exclusive industries in the UK.

“Because who tells the story determines the story that is told.

“So I want to ask: if you aren’t commissioning content from every part of the country – towns and villages as well as major cities – why not?

“Talent is everywhere. Opportunity is not. And if you’ve moved jobs and people and content, but the heads of departments and commissioners are still in an office in London, do something about it.”

It comes after the previous government’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee inquiry launched an investigation into film and TV in July 2023 asking what needs to be done to maintain and enhance the UK as a global destination for production.

It concluded during the election that it was “deeply concerned about skills, working conditions, and the retention of staff in the industry” which “faces considerable uncertainty”.

Ms Nandy’s speech continued: “Frankly, if you don’t know why the film industry is so attracted to the beauty of Sunderland, or why the arts sector is buzzing in Bradford, or the potential to TV of the Welsh Valleys, it is most likely because you’ve never been there. And you have no right to call yourself a public service broadcaster.

“Because public service means serving the whole people, recognising their contribution and reflecting them in our national story.

“I know it isn’t easy. The costs are short term, the payoff is long term.

“But there is so much at stake and it is my belief that an industry that belongs to the nation is an industry that will not just survive but thrive."