We’re heading north for real national service, says BBC chief Tim Davie

BBC boss Tim Davie has said the corporation must sell off property in London and move hundreds of employees out of the capital to get “closer to audiences” and offer a real national service.

As part of proposals published today, flagship shows including Newsnight and Radio 4’s Today Programme will move out of London for some of the year, while the BBC will take on Coronation Street with a new “long-running drama series” set in the North of England.

The eventual aim is to have 60 per cent of its UK TV production and half of radio production happening outside London — the first time in the BBC’s history that the majority of its programmes will be made outside the capital.

Mr Davie, the director-general, said the BBC had to “deliver for the whole of the UK”.

He added: “These plans will get us closer to audiences, create jobs and investment and develop and nurture new talent. Over the last year, the BBC — which has been an essential part of the UK’s culture, democracy and creativity for almost a century — has helped inform, educate and entertain all four nations, as we have collectively faced some of our toughest moments in recent history.

“Now, as we look to the future, we must play our part in supporting social and economic recovery; re-building the creative sector and telling the stories that need to be heard from all four corners of the UK.”

The plan, called The BBC Across the UK, runs from next year to 2027 and pledges to “move the creative and journalistic centre of the BBC away from London to a much more distributed model that moves not just people, but power and decision-making to the UK’s nations and regions”.

It includes a commitment to make more than 100 comedy and drama shows over the next three years set outside London, move classical station Radio 3 so it is “rooted in the North of England” and says the BBC “concert orchestra will be rebased outside the M25”.

Radio 4’s agenda-setting Today programme “will be co-presented from outside London for at least 100 episodes a year”, while afternoon news show PM will be “presented regularly from different locations around the UK”.

Newsnight will “be presented from different bases, including Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester throughout the year, to represent the range of issues across the UK better”.

Some of the plans will likely be paid for by selling off buildings in the capital, with the report saying “as a result of these moves, the BBC’s property estate in London will be reduced”.

The move follows on from Mr Davie’s first speech as director-general — after he took over from Tony Hall last September — when he said that a really “universal public service” had to represent every part of the country.

The BBC is now in a battle for audiences with hugely wealthy streaming services such as Netflix and has been warned by critics it is out of touch with much of the country.

It also faces increased competition from one of its former star political interviewers — Andrew Neil — who left the corporation and now leads rival GB News.

Last year the BBC set aside time and money to broadcast news from locations including Bradford, Sunderland and Blackpool and Mr Davie’s predecessor had previously spoken about his ambition to see two-thirds of corporation staff based outside London by 2027.