Reading the Rooms

: An analysis of the lived experiences of creative workers in the British Television and Radio Comedy industries, focusing on the commissioning process and with particular reference to social class and other identity characteristics.

Abstract

Impressions of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) as meritocratic are unfounded; the CCIs have the worst record of employing working-class people of any sector of UK industries. The TV and Radio comedy industries are no exception. Patterns of informal hiring combined with hidden career paths and self-replicating cliques in decision-making positions have rendered a career in comedy writing in contemporary Britain the preserve of a chosen few. Intersectionality means that women, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, LGBTQ+, deaf, disabled and/or neurodiverse individuals have experienced overlapping and multiplying patterns of disadvantage. The UK TV and Radio industries have brought forward a plethora of industry policies, strategies and schemes to address inequality and lack of diversity. Government, regulators and influential individual industry voices have all promoted change, yet real progress has remained stubbornly elusive and data collection incomplete or non-existent in key areas like socio-economic class and the freelance workforce. Data that are available show small, slow and fragile improvements, or even regression in some areas post Covid 19. Using Bourdieu’s concepts of capital, habitus, field and doxa (1977), and a new concept of interconnecting comedy ‘Rooms’ this study explores how privileged entry and progression in the comedy industry has ensured the replication of the tastes and dispositions of a somatic norm of white, middle-class males (Brook, O’Brien and Taylor, 2020a). This study examines the experiences of two groups of individuals - writers and gatekeepers - on either side of a key process within the TV and radio industries - content commissioning. It offers insights into why the culture in comedy, TV, and the creative industries in general has proved so hard to change.

Date of Award	25 Feb 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Edge Hill University
Supervisor	BRETT MILLS (Director of Studies) & HANNAH ANDREWS (Supervisor)