Nearly half of the UK’s TV industry workforce are jobless, a survey released Friday shows, with many workers looking beyond the sector for survival in an unprecedented crisis.
A UK Bectu (Broadcasting Entertainment Communications and Theatre Union) survey for 2025, as seen and reported by Deadline, found some 45 percent of those in TV drama, 46 percent of those in unscripted and 45 percent of those working in commercials were not working when it surveyed 3,621 people in March 2025.
Nearly seven in 10 (68 percent) said they were struggling financially.
The employment woes have been attributed to the long tail of troubles that have been hitting the U.S. industry which saw writers and actors strikes putting thousands of blue collar workers out of work across the country.
Bectu boss Philippa Childs said the findings are a “wake up call”:
These findings lay bare the devastating impact of recent industry challenges compounded by years of insecure employment practices and poor conditions across much of the sector.
And on top of this, many TV workers face entrenched discrimination, bullying and harassment, propped up by huge power imbalances and a lack of independent and robust reporting mechanisms.
Deadline further reports on the latter point, more than six in 10 of those working in TV (61 percent) told the union in the past year they had personally witnessed or experienced bullying or harassment in the workplace.
Half of those incidents were not reported (48 percent), added Bectu.
The survey was conducted between February and March this year, capturing responses from 5,597 creative industry professionals, with 3,621 specifically working in television production and broadcasting.
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