Sir Peter Bazalgette is one of the most influential figures in the UK’s creative industries. 

As the former chairman of Endemol UK and creative director of Endemol Group Worldwide, he was responsible for some of the most successful and recognisable television shows of the past 25 years, including Big Brother, Ready Steady Cook, Ground Force and Changing Rooms.

Sir Peter, who was also chairman of Arts Council England and non-executive chairman of ITV, was recently appointed as the new chancellor of the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol).

In an interview with Dan Martin, he discusses his career, the support needed from the new government to grow the UK’s creative industries, how to improve the sector’s diversity, and why he has taken on the role of UWE Bristol’s new chancellor. 

For an extra insight, read to the end to discover Sir Peter’s favourite TV show of all time! 

Sir Peter Bazalgette officially took up his role as chancellor of UWE Bristol at the university’s graduation ceremonies in July, which were held for the first time at Bristol Beacon following a new partnership between the two organisations.

You’ve been in the TV sector for over 40 years. How has it changed?

“Until 1955, there was only the BBC, and until 1982, there was only the BBC and ITV. Then there was Channel Four, and then Channel Five came along in the 90s. So even by the 1990s, there were very few channels. Sky Television and Virgin weren’t there at that point, but subscription TV came along when they arrived.  

“Fast forward to recently and when I was chairing ITV, we launched ITV X and to be listed we had to negotiate with more than 30 platforms. 

“In terms of production, that has changed a lot too. We used to just have public service media putting money into television production, but now we’ve got Netflix alone spending more than a billion in the UK, not to mention Apple, Amazon, Disney and so on. 

“It’s changed massively, and people are consuming their TV when they want and how they want.”

What’s your advice to small production companies in today’s TV landscape?

“As much as documentaries are wonderful things, try to have a repeat series, whether it’s factual or fictional, but one that can be repeated and can come back again because that gives you certainty and turnover. 

“You should also have a range of clients among both the streamers and the public service media.”

When you launched Big Brother in the UK, did you know how big it would be?

“None of us ever know the night before a show goes out for the first time whether it’s going to be a complete flop or a big hit. 

“Big Brother had already become a massive phenomenon in Germany, Spain and Holland before it came to the UK, but not every format works in every country. For example, Survivor has never really taken off in the UK, but it has been a hit in America since the 1990s.

“When Big Brother launched, it was like trying to ride a bucking bronco. It got bigger and bigger. It was on the front page of every newspaper every day, and we had the press on our doorsteps. 

“In most of the early Big Brother houses in other countries, the key talking points were two housemates getting amorous with each other. But true to form in Britain, we instead had a class struggle, with working class Craig defeating middle class Nick, who became known as Nasty Nick. Lots of people couldn’t believe we hadn’t set the whole thing up, but we had no idea any of that was going to happen, none at all.” 

What impact do you think Big Brother had?

“It was massively controversial wherever it was broadcast. People thought it was exploitative and invasive, but actually it was interesting in that it had a transsexual woman, a gay man, someone who suffered from Tourette syndrome, and all sorts of extraordinary people who at the time were demonised. But they won because people saw their lovely character shining through, and so it did have a positive element. 

“It was also an example of early fusion technology because it was on TV as an edited programme, it was on the internet, people watched it live, and you could vote on the telephone. It represented a convergence of media, and it was part of the process of the generation, who today on their mobile phones shoot and edit videos, becoming media literate. They used to watch the live transmission, and then watch the edited programme, before complaining we hadn’t put certain bits in, or we’d been unfair to certain characters. 

“They then realised that the programme was an edited piece that was entirely subjective and what the director thought the story was. There was a big element of the viewer developing media literacy which was groundbreaking.”

How do you think the new government should support the creative industries?

“The creative industries, as they say on The X Factor, have been on a journey. We were the first country in the world in 1997 to define an industrial sector called the creative industries, but we then had to catch up because we didn’t have any data about our GVA, our employment etc. In time we had the Creative Industries Council, and we then established an advocacy body that is now called Creative UK, but in many ways, Britain is still playing catch up with the creative industries. With the new government, I hope that the journey and process will continue.

“The creative industries are 6% of the UK’s GVA, but we get 1% of public investment. Clearly that is not aligned with the creative industries as a priority sector for growth which we have been told is the case by both the former Conservative government and the Labour Party. 

“Private investment is currently not good enough. The British Business Bank, which encourages investment in small and medium sized enterprises, is not really attuned to the way the creative industries run, the way small creative businesses work, and the criteria by which they have to be judged and invested in. We need to make progress on public and private investment. 

“We also need to make progress on research and development tax credit definitions. The UK has a narrow definition of R&D, which is different to the one in other countries in Europe which includes the creative industries so creative businesses can claim tax credits for the innovation that they carry out. 

“We need a more flexible apprenticeship scheme because small companies find it difficult to use the apprenticeship levy.”

You have done a lot of work on encouraging creative clusters around the UK. What more do you think needs to be done in that area?

“The creative industries are naturally and organically arranged into clusters. When I made a proposal for public investment in clusters in 2017, which was enacted in 2018 in the creative industries sector deal, it was going with the flow of where clusters typically are. For example, there’s the fantastic screen cluster in Bristol, an advertising cluster in Manchester, fashion in Leeds and games in Dundee. All of those things were happening organically and I suggested that we got behind it. 

“The investment was £56m in nine creative clusters and each of them had an anchor partner of a university which could feed the value of applied research into local SMEs. It was fantastically successful over five years. It was matched by about £260m from industry and other sources. It’s a very good example of how you use small amounts of public money to generate growth and investment. It connected applied research with more than 2,500 SMEs, and created lots of new jobs, products and services. 

“We found it incredibly difficult to get clusters two funded, despite the extraordinary success story which underlines my point about public investment not being aligned with the national policy to grow the creative industries. 

“In the end, we did get it funded, but it still depends on UK Research and Innovation honouring the commitment in the next Spending Review, which has to be agreed by the new government. 

“That’s another example of how Britain has not caught up with the creative sector, and isn’t backing it in the way that we are organised.”

What needs to be done to improve diversity in the creative industries?

“We need to do a lot better in this area. If we claim that the creative industries is not just an economic powerhouse, but a social and cultural powerhouse, and that what we produce, our music, theatre, films, TV, books and so on, touches the pulse of the nation, then it has to represent the whole nation and all of the communities. It can only do that if all of them find easy career pathways. 

“One of the key things to do is defining better career pathways, which was set out in the former government’s creative industries sector vision last year. When I work with Speakers for Schools, the charity set up by Robert Peston, and speak to first year sixth form students, I ask them ‘what’s your favourite music?’, ‘what’s your favourite fashion?, ‘what’s your favourite film?, ‘what’s your favourite TV show?, ‘what games do you play?’. It always leads to a big discussion about who has the best taste.

“I then ask them to tell me about the jobs that all of those products represent and there’s dead silence. As an industry, we have not defined the career pathways properly. If we do, we’ll have a much more diverse sector. 

“We also need much better outreach. When I was deputy chair of the National Film and Television School, we greatly increased the money we put into finding people of talent from all communities, such as having bursary funds dedicated to Black and Asian people. These are the sorts of things you can do to make a difference, but we have a way to go.”

🤝 This morning at #UWEGraduation Sir Peter Bazalgette was presented as the new chancellor of UWE Bristol – succeeding Sir Ian Carruthers OBE who has performed the role with distinction for the past 13 years 👏

Welcome, Sir Peter! pic.twitter.com/K6DSUZ5D5u

— UWE Bristol (@UWEBristol) July 18, 2024

Why did you decide to become chancellor of UWE Bristol?

“The role higher and further education plays in training, inspiring and producing the next generation of talent in the creative sector is critical. 

“The particular thing that interested me about UWE is that the creative industries is one of the key areas in which they specialise. 

“Activities that impress me about UWE include The Foundry which encourages collaboration, new ideas and development of technical knowledge. I also like the fact that they have a student ventures centre which encourages graduates to set up businesses, I like the university enterprise zone, and I like that more than 50% of graduates tend to work in the surrounding area after they’ve graduated. This is a very good statistic, and shows the contribution that UWE is making to Bristol and its surroundings. 

“Finally, as a TV producer and chair of the Arts Council, I visited the city many times and I love what Bristol has already and its potential for growth.”

Finally, what’s your favourite TV show of all time?

“Antiques Roadshow. I can’t get enough of it! 

“I love the combination of the personal histories and regional histories that are linked to an object. You learn so much about history, and individual stories of brilliant heroism. There’s also the arts and culture, the wonderful locations they visit and the element of greed when it’s revealed what the item is worth. It’s the perfect TV show. I wish I’d invented it myself.”

About Bristol Creative Industries

Bristol Creative Industries is the membership network that supports the region's creative sector to learn, grow and connect, driven by the common belief that we can achieve more collectively than alone.