Study shows UK TV minorities gap

Patrick Trueman is a leading character in EastEnders

Ethnic minorities are under-represented in some of the main genres of UK television, a survey has shown.

Minorities account for 7.8% of the population but get only 6.6% of soap parts and 7.5% of factual roles, the Cultural Diversity Network poll found.

Overall, minorities get 8.8% of screen roles, with light entertainment and sport having the highest levels.

The group of major broadcasters says the study of prime time TV showed "more work" was needed to achieve equality.

The study monitored prime time programming for seven days across six channels: BBC1, BBC2, Channel 4, Five, ITV1 and Sky One.

It found that 18.8% of people on sports programmes were from ethnic minorities, with 12.7% in light entertainment roles.

Industry awareness

The level of representation on news programmes was equal to the population level (7.8%).

But only 6% of major roles in dramas and fiction shows went to ethnic minorities, compared with 9.6% in factual programmes.

Cultural Diversity Network chairman Simon Shaps, director of television at ITV, said: "This important research shows that the industry is making real progress but there is still a lot more work to do.

"We need to continue to work together as an industry to raise levels of representation in key genres."

The survey was launched to coincide with the group's annual conference, which aims to raise awareness of diversity issues.