More disabled people to appear on Entertainment and Daytime TV

23rd June 2009

The makers of TV programmes like Come Dine With Me (Channel 4) and Flog It (BBC) have pledged to do more to ensure that disabled people are part of their programmes. Sixty key figures in entertainment and daytime programming from across the UK broadcasters and many independent production companies attended a workshop held by the BBC and the Broadcasting and Creative Industries Disability Network, alongside twenty disabled individuals who have already appeared on TV programmes or are working in the creative industries.

The event was chaired by Ade Adepitan, and led for the BBC by Mark Linsey, Controller of Entertainment and Liam Keelan, Controller of Daytime. It included contributions from Missing Top Model executive producer Harry Lansdown and Jess Kellgren-Hayes who was on the programme, Big Brother contestant Mikey Hughes, who is blind, and Big Brother Creative Director Philip Edgar-Jones from Brighter Pictures, as well as Sarah Walmsley, from IWC Media who produce Location, Location, Anouk Berendson, Event Producer on Last Choir Standing and Michael Mannes from 12 Yard, Executive Producer on In It to Win It.

The workshop is the second in a series of cross broadcaster events involving BBC, ITV, Sky, Channel Four and Five being organised by the BCIDN, as part of an initiative led by BBC Director General Mark Thompson and senior executives across all the main channels.