Our new pan-UK commissioning model

At the end of 2025 we announced plans to double our TV commissioning spend on programmes reflecting Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and bring together our network and nations teams into a new pan-UK commissioning model, working to shared editorial strategies and targets and basing more decision making outside London.

Our new model brings together BBC commissioners from the devolved nations with the network genre teams to share decision-making for network commissions that feature strong nations portrayal on-screen.

Titles with strong on-screen portrayal are stories that are clearly set in a specific location, reflecting the landscape, culture or history of a place, or where experiences, locations, customs and accents are recognisable and authentic. We will commission these together, as joined-up pan-UK genre teams with a shared editorial strategy, combining our expertise to strengthen the impact of this content.

In these teams, commissioners based in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales will now be responsible for programme ideas that feature strong on-screen portrayal of their nation. They will also be the key contact for any production company in their nation.

The head of the genre commissioning team and the head of commissioning in each nation will have joint sign-off and oversight of titles featuring strong nations portrayal, working together on their editorial development and delivery. Decision making for local - or ‘opt-out’ – commissioning will remain with the heads of commissioning in each nation.

We will remain flexible with this way of working, which we expect to evolve over time, and producers can maintain their existing commissioning relationships where appropriate.

We also want to ensure programmes portraying a specific nation make a significant economic contribution to the location in which they’re set. Our ambition, where possible, is for these titles to be made in the place they portray, meeting at least two of Ofcom’s three regional production criteria. We expect there to be creative flexibility with this approach and will look for programmes to deliver against the spirit of this ambition rather than taking a rigid approach.

Find all the commissioning contacts for the nations across each genre on the pages below.

Please note, the genre commissioning contacts responsible for entertainment, daytime, science, natural history, religion, history and arts in Northern Ireland are to follow.

Find commissioning contacts per genre