Drama, one of the more costly forms of radio broadcasting, is losing airtime as the BBC cuts back, despite being recognised as a vital seedbed for British talent. Great dramatists including Tom Stoppard, Joe Orton, Caryl Churchill and Harold Pinter all gained experience on radio and many leading writers, including Samuel Beckett, John Mortimer and Alan Plater, regularly returned to the form, drawn by its intimate quality.
Following complaints from listeners and from the audio producers’ trade association Audio UK – which has written to Ofcom, the broadcasting regulating body – the BBC’s commitment to developing writers and putting out one-off radio plays is being questioned. Audio UK research shows that by April 2023 Radio 4’s drama output will have fallen by 50% during the period Ofcom has been directly overseeing the BBC. When it took over from the former BBC Trust in 2017 it removed quotas that protected key genres on the BBC’s radio services.
