NHU faces major cuts
- Published: 24 October 2007 11:08
- Author: Yvette Mackenzie
- More by this Author
- Last Updated: 24 October 2007 12:08
The BBC natural history unit (NHU) in Bristol is expected to lose 57 staff from its 180 strong team.
The unit is expected to lose one executive producer, two series producers, 10 producers, nine assistant producers, 23 researchers and 11 production management jobs, according to BBC in-house magazine Ariel.
Paul Appleby, one of the NHU’s most senior programme makers, told Ariel ”Fewer, bigger, better is the way we work and have done for years. You’d think we would fit very well into the new landscape.”
The news came as a shock to the NHU workforce who had anticipated cuts of between just 5% and 10%.
BBC Vision controller of content Keith Scholey said the NHU had been a victim of growing during recent boom years – when annual budgets of £30million had risen to £37million – but that the budgets were now falling to £25 million.
As a result the Wild strand on BBC2 will not be recommissioned and costs will be cut in off-peak programming.
Bristol’s other factual studio, which currently employs 156 people to make shows including Antiques Roadshow, Bargain Hunt and The Seven Ages of Rock, will also face drastic cuts with 48 people facing redundancy.
