BBC is ‘warping modern Britain’ by allowing ‘woke viewpoints’ in dramas, report warns

The BBC risks ‘warping modern Britain’ by allowing its TV dramas to be blighted by politically correct bias in their stories, a new report has said.

A review of TV shows by the Campaign for Common Sense found that the BBC’s programmes portrayed a version of Britain unrecognisable to most viewers.

The corporation’s dramas regularly include critiques of capitalism, Brexit, the police and the government, with some described by the report as being close to propaganda.

The BBC was also accused of social engineering by over-representing minorities in its programmes. 

Letita Dean’s character Sharon Watts equated Brexit and Covid in an episode of Eastenders

The report comes just after another report said the broadcaster was ‘rewriting history to promote a woke agenda’. 

One show criticised in the new report was Vigil, a 2021 drama set on a nuclear submarine infiltrated by a Russian spy.

The programme depicts the government and security services covering up serious incidents. 

An SNP councillor and anti-nuclear campaigner, Feargal Dalton, worked as a senior script consultant on the show.

Meanwhile, EastEnders portrayed a character equating Brexit and coronavirus.

Letita Dean’s character Sharon Watts throws water in another character’s face, saying: ‘We’ve had Brexit and Covid, we don’t need you here.’

In police drama The Responder, which stars Martin Freeman, almost half of the police characters are black or Asian, despite Merseyside Police having 0.5 per cent black officers and 0.4 per cent Asian officers. 

The CCS report also criticised programmes including Sherwood, Industry and The Capture. 

In police drama The Responder, which stars Martin Freeman, almost half of the police characters are black or Asian, despite Merseyside Police having 0.5 per cent black officers and 0.4 per cent Asian officers

Sharon Watts throws water in another character’s face, saying: ‘We’ve had Brexit and Covid, we don’t need you here’

A group of leading academics recently warned the BBC documentaries showed many examples of bias and allowed ‘politically motivated’ actors to present their view of British history as fact.

Last year, BBC director general Tim Davie published a 10-point plan to improve the corporation’s impartiality, but the broadcaster has come in for criticism for its news and drama output since.

A spokesman for the Campaign for Common Sense said: ‘Too often in BBC dramas you can see only one side of an argument presented. 

‘And it’s usually the side of a liberal, Left-wing, woke viewpoint that has more in common with the echo chambers of Twitter than the majority of licence fee payers who are forced to fund the BBC’s output.

‘The BBC needs to understand that not everyone signs up to a world view where the bad guys are the police, Brexit, and Conservatives,’ The Telegraph reported.

A BBC spokesperson said: ‘The BBC’s world-class, critically-acclaimed dramas are enjoyed by huge audiences, year in year out. 

‘We work with the very best creative talent who represent all corners of the UK and reflect different views and perspectives, while also providing brilliant entertainment and escapism.

‘Cherry-picking a handful of examples in thousands of hours of output does not constitute analysis and is not a true representation of BBC content.’

‘Biased’ BBC is ‘rewriting British history to promote a woke agenda’, a group of leading academics warns

The BBC has ‘consistent bias’ which amounts to rewriting British history to promote ‘woke’ views, a group of academics has claimed, as they accused the broadcaster of ‘pandering to politically motivated activists’.

Academics writing for History Reclaimed published a report on Wednesday in which they named six examples of BBC programming since the start of 2020 which they say support their allegations.

The group accuses shows such as The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan, a report on the Benin Bronzes and Digging For Britain of rewriting history to promote a ‘woke agenda’.

They say the broadcaster does this by omitting key facts and including ‘inaccurate or tendentious material’ in documentaries. The BBC has been contacted for comment.

Academics writing for History Reclaimed published a report on Wednesday in which they named six examples of BBC programming since the start of 2020 which they say shows ‘bias’ and ‘pandering to political activists’

One of the programmes criticised was a news broadcast on Radio 4 about the return of Benin Bronzes (pictured) to Nigeria

The BBC supposedly gives ‘a voice only to one side of a disputed past, even presenting false history as uncontested fact’, most commonly in relation to the transatlantic slave trade.

The group writes the BBC is using individual programmes to foster ‘a negative view of British history, and especially of its relations with the non-European world from which British citizens of ethnic minority backgrounds and their ancestors originally came.’ 

Other programmes mentioned by the group included Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson and a Radio 4 programme with author Kit De Waal on Sarah Forbes Bonetta.

History Reclaimed is edited by David Abulafia and Robert Tombs.

He and Mr Tombs are both professors emeritus at the University of Cambridge, where he specialises in Italian and Spanish history, while Mr Tombs specialises in French history.

Mr Abulafia has previously advocated for retaining the Rosetta stone, instead of returning it to Egypt, and suggested Britain should not pay reparations to countries impacted by the slave trade.

Mr Tombs has argued against repatriating the Benin Bronzes and called decolonisation a ‘dangerous farce’.

The report authors said The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan (pictured) present an ‘inaccurate impression’ of British history

Members of History Reclaimed claimed the BBC is ‘pandering to political activists’ and has consistently failed to discuss Britain’s role in combatting the slave trade (Pictured: Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson)

Speaking about comedian Mr Ranganathan’s programme, the authors said it failed to point out ‘black African’ involvement in the slave trade, adding: ‘It is a gross distortion to talk of black slaves and white slavers; many peoples were involved.’

They allege the programme left viewers with an ‘inaccurate impression’ and should have included references to Britain’s later efforts to end the slave trade.

The authors accuse the BBC of further errors when discussing the return of relics across the world, most notably the Benin Bronzes.

Criticising a Radio 4 broadcast last month, the writers said: ‘The language used is tendentious and inaccurate. 

‘The objects were not ‘looted’ or ‘plundered’ but seized in what was then a legal process in retaliation for an act of war. 

‘More important still is what is left out—likely deliberately—from the historical account given. 

‘This was a punitive expedition against a violent slave-trading kingdom (hence ‘wealthy’) after the massacre of an unarmed party of British envoys and a large number of their African bearers.’

The report authors issued four recommendations to the BBC, including establishing an advisory panel of ‘properly qualified historians’ to help reduce so-called ‘group think’.

They also call for the broadcaster to commit to reviewing all content produced by its history department that is currently available to download or view on its on-demand services.

The final recommendations are for the BBC to update its editorial guidelines and guidance to independent production companies that all historical programmes must be accurate and ‘commit to providing a diversity of opinion amongst contributors where interpretation of history is contested’.

The BBC has been contacted for comment.