"Representation that isn’t built into structures doesn’t last" - the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity responds to the Creative Diversity Network’s Diamond Report 2025.
The Creative Diversity Network’s (CDN) ninth Diamond report is welcome and candid piece of work on representation in UK broadcasting, according to the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity (LHC), but the industry has gone backwards when it comes to ethnicity.
By showing the continued, if slow, improvement in disabled representation both on and off-screen, as well as the growth in contributions from female writers (up from 33.4% to 40.7% in over five years), this is proof that sustained and evidence-led action can make a difference.
“But this year’s report carries a warning the industry cannot afford to ignore,” said Jaldeep Katwala, Director of the LHC.
“On ethnicity, the industry has gone backwards: contributions from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups fell in 2025 both on and off-screen.
“Off-screen they have dropped to 13% - back to the same level as in 2021. For Black colleagues the picture is starker still: their share of off-screen contributions has fallen to just 2.7%, below the 4% recorded three years ago and well short of their presence in the wider workforce (5.2%).
“CDN’s own conclusion is that the commitments made after the Black Lives Matter movement ‘did not lead to embedded, structural change.’
“We agree. What looked like a turning point now looks like a cycle - attention, then quiet retreat once the spotlight moved on.”
The report also found that just 2.6% of Head of Production contributions come from Black, Asian and minority ethnic people, highlighting that visibility on screen is not the same as the control behind it.
Jaldeep Katwala added: “The lesson of Diamond 2025 is that representation is not self-sustaining. Left alone, it drifts backwards.
“Progress made in a moment of urgency must be built into structures - commissioning, recruitment, retention, progression - or it will not survive the next downturn. With the sector under acute financial pressure, that risk is immediate.”
“We commend CDN for producing data honest enough to show this. Our task now, collectively, is to act on it. The Sir Lenny Henry Centre will continue to shine a light on these findings and press for the structural change that turns hard-won gains into lasting progress.
“A promise made in 2020 has quietly unravelled. Representation that isn’t built into structures doesn’t last - and this is the proof.”