Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Birmingham to expand
Joe Godwin
Director, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Academy and Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Birmingham
Tagged with:
Last Wednesday Birmingham hosted a premiere for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Two's worldwide hit drama series .
I was bursting with pride watching the hordes of fans lined the canal outside The Mailbox to catch a glimpse of the cast led by star Cillian Murphy and writer Steven Knight. For Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Birmingham to host an event for a series that has touched the hearts of people in the Midlands really was very special. And we know that the people in our region watched the first episode last week in more numbers than anywhere else in the country. I doff my cap (minus the razors) to Peakys and its fans.
After such a special moment last week I wasn't sure how this week could compare but today we have announced a package of measures that will build on the Corporation’s existing £125m investment in Birmingham by making the city the dual base for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Three, with half of the team moving to be based in the city under the proposals. Another brilliant moment for the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ in Birmingham.
The team responsible for producing and publishing Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Three’s daily short-form content will move here and we'll be the home of a new youth team who are set to be the main suppliers of the news content for .
Birmingham is the youngest and most diverse city in Europe with a thriving digital start up culture so these new teams are the perfect fit for us and by investing significant extra resource in the city in this way we can help to develop the growing digital economy here too. We know there is a large pool of young creative talent in the city who we want to work with and want to work with us and Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Birmingham will now be at the heart of producing fresh talent and innovative digital content for young audiences.
The new teams will also form part of the hub for the development and commissioning of diverse talent and programmes as announced in the last month. Exciting stuff.
And my team at the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Academy are launching a new scheme - the Birmingham Production Apprenticeship - for new off air talent from diverse backgrounds.
Over the last year we have established ourselves as the centre of excellence for recruitment, training and digital innovation for the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ alongside the thriving production base with the drama village producing shows like Doctors and Father Brown and The Mailbox being home to The Archers, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Front, the Asian Network and local programming with Midlands Today and Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ WM. But, I have said since I started this job 16 months ago that we wanted to do more and, if I am honest, this is even better than I could have hoped for.
Birmingham is a great city with a huge amount of potential and with today's announcement we will be dedicating even more resources, producing even more content, and creating even more opportunities for the industry and our audiences in the region. I hope you will all doff your peak(y) caps to that.
Joe Godwin is Director Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Birmingham.
- Read the press release about the announcement on the