September 19, 2025 

University of Leeds, UK

Deadline: July 4, 2025

Dear colleagues, 

We are delighted to share the call for papers for a one day symposium at the University of Leeds. 

Please find details below.  

The AHRC What's On? Project Team: Beth Johnson, Dave O'Brien, Laura Minor, Anna Viola Sborgi 

Keynote: Philip Ralph, award-winning writer of screenplays for television and film and plays for stage and radio  

Closing plenary panel  

A One-Day Symposium as part of the What’s On? Rethinking Class in the TV Industry research project – funded by the AHRC  

From the working-class characters we see on screen to the systemic barriers behind the scenes, class has never been more central to debates about the British TV industry.  

Recent data from the Creative Industries Policy Evidence Centre (PEC) reveals a stark picture: just

8% of the Film, TV and Radio workforce come from working-class backgrounds - the lowest figure in over a decade (McAndrew et al. 2024; Stephenson 2024). Studies show that individuals from these backgrounds are systematically excluded at every stage of their careers (Carey et al. 2021; O’Brien et al. 2016; Oakley et al. 2017; Brook et al. 2018). In response, the Creative Diversity Network (CDN) has committed to better tracking socio-economic diversity by adding class-focused questions to its 2024 Diamond survey.  

Class is also increasingly visible in public and industry discourse. In 2024, James Graham used the MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival to deliver a powerful critique of the industry’s class inequalities, calling for structural change.  

On screen, television is engaging with class in more complex and intersectional ways. Alma’s Not Normal (BBC Two), Help (C4), Derry Girls (C4),  Dreamers (C4) and Sherwood (BBC One) all portray class alongside gender, race, disability and place - reflecting shifting cultural conversations and the urgent need for scholarly engagement with these representations.  

This one-day symposium invites new perspectives on class and television as both a site of cultural meaning and a structure of exclusion. While the central focus of the What’s On? research and this symposium is on television drama, we also welcome proposals that engage with other genres where class is a significant concern. Inspired by the What’s On? research project, we draw on the Circuit of Culture model developed by the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS), which highlights five interlinked moments in cultural production: representation, identity, production, consumption, and regulation. This framework helps us ask: how can we rethink class in TV from the inside out?  

We’re especially interested in work that:  

• Analyses how class is represented on screen - whose stories are told, and how are classed experiences shaped by race, gender, disability, and other intersecting identities? 
  
• Explores how class, in conjunction with other social positions, shapes identities and career trajectories within the industry.  
  
• Examines the structures of production - from hiring to commissioning, from freelancing to gatekeeping - with a focus on how intersecting inequalities of class, race, gender and disability are embedded in industry norms. 
  
• Investigates patterns of consumption - asking how classed experiences, alongside factors such as cultural background, language, and access, shape how audiences interpret and relate to television content. 
  
• Critiques regulatory frameworks - including policy, data collection, funding and diversity schemes – through the lens of class and its intersections with other structural inequalities.  
  

While academic work has made valuable contributions - especially in reality TV and class representation (Wood & Skeggs 2011, 2012; Biressi & Nunn 2005, 2008; Munt 2008; Deery & Press 2017; Minor 2023) - important gaps remain. We need deeper intersectional analyses (Rice et al. 2019) and more focus on how class interacts with other forms of marginalisation (Malik 2013; Conor et al. 2015). We also need to connect industry practice, policy shifts, viewer experience and scholarly critique.  

We welcome proposals from scholars, early career researchers, industry practitioners, activists, and creatives across disciplines and sectors.  

Key questions include:  

• What is the impact of class and its intersections on contemporary TV production?  
  
• How is class represented, misrepresented, or silenced on screen, and how do these depictions intersect with race, gender, disability, and other identities? 
  
• How do audiences engage with classed narratives, and how are these experiences shaped by other aspects of identity and lived experience? 
  
• How do current policies, data practices, and regulatory frameworks address or overlook the intersecting inequalities of class, race, gender, and other identities in TV production? 
  
• How can scholarship and industry practice work together to address intersecting inequalities and create meaningful change? 
  

Join us in Leeds for a critical and creative day of discussion, collaboration, and reimagining the future of British television - on and off screen.  

We invite proposals for 15–20-minute papers. Please submit a 250-word abstract along with a short biography (maximum 80 words) to whatsontvclass@gmail.com by 4th July 2025. 

Applicants will be notified of the outcome during the week beginning 21st July 2025.  

Registration is free.           

We are pleased to offer a limited number of UK travel bursaries (2–3) for PGRs, ECRs, or independent scholars presenting at the event. If your paper is accepted and you are eligible, you will be invited to complete a short application form.