The Seventh Cut Report

Diamond: The Seventh Cut, published on September 12, 2024, is an analysis of the largest annual data sample to date, comprising 1.27 million contributions made on and off-screen, at various levels and role types across most genres, between August 2022 and July 2023.

The report reveals that as a whole, contributions by Black, Asian, and other minority ethnic groups, women, lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB), and people who are transgender are either at or above comparable national figures, while contributions by disabled people and over-50s are showing year-on-year improvement, but still fall below population and workforce estimates.

However, drawing on a data set of over 7.5 million contributions made over seven years, Diamond can delve below these top-level figures to highlight significant areas of continuing concern.

*Contributions are similar to a programme credit. Each programme contribution is assigned the diversity characteristics of the individual who made that contribution. A single contribution relates to the transmission of a single programme or episode.

Read the Headline Summary (4 min) or in BSL

Read the 7th Cut Methodology.

Methodology in Welsh/Cymraeg and accessible formats supplied on request.

Please get in touch with enquiries@creativediversitynetwork.com with any requests.

Report Summary

(4 Minute Read)

Diamond: The Seventh Cut is a deep-dive analysis of the largest annual data sample to date. 1.27 million contributions* were made on and off-screen and at different levels and role types across most genres, between August 2022 and July 2023.

Exploring how the UK television’s on and off-screen workforce represents the viewers who watch and pay for its content, this new data release 2024 provides an opportunity to take stock of the most comprehensive and long-term data set to date.

Now, a data set of over 7.5 million contributions made over seven years, Diamond provides broadcasters, producers, contributors, and other bodies with an in-depth understanding of how we are all performing in making the television industry as diverse as the population it serves.

What CDN Monitor

Diamond collects diversity data on UK original productions commissioned by BBC, ITV, Channel 4 (C4), Paramount, Sky, and UKTV. We have started data collection with BSLBT and S4C, which will appear in the next Cut.

We monitor age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation. We focus on people with key diversity characteristics who are known to often face discrimination and or underrepresentation in society.

The real strength of Diamond, and what distinguishes it from other studies, is that the size of its data set enables us to look at several levels below the industry-wide figures. It is also longitudinal, which allows us to look at trends over time through our annual reports.

Diamond is unique because it focuses on contributions data, enabling us to explore the impact that people with diverse characteristics monitored by Diamond have across TV production.

So, while some of the top-level data may show general progress, digging down further into individual characteristics can reveal significant areas of underrepresentation and where we need to concentrate on making improvements.

The Headlines

Diamond reveals that as a whole, contributions by Black, Asian, and other minority ethnic groups, women, LGB, and Trans people are either at or above comparable national figures, while contributions by disabled people and the over-50s are showing year-on-year improvement, but still fall below population and workforce estimates.

However, drawing on a data set of over 7.5 million contributions made over seven years, Diamond can delve below these top-level figures to highlight significant areas of continuing concern.

Representation of disabled people remains well below the population as a whole across almost every genre and role, on-screen and off-screen. Craft roles are often strikingly delineated.

Some, such as sound and lighting, are dominated by white men, with fewer than 8% of contributions to both made by workers from an ethnic minority background, and fewer than 8% of contributions to lighting are made by women. Conversely, hair and make-up remain dominated by women (95.8% of contributions).

Drilling Down into the Data

Over-50s: Off and On-screen contributions by age 2019/20 and 2022/23

Looking Ahead and Building Diamond 2.0

As the body tasked with overseeing a cross-industry approach to diversity and inclusion, Creative Diversity Network is enhancing Diamond to increase the amount of detail gathered, including adding new ethnicity, religious affiliation, and socio-economic background questions to the existing questionnaire forms.

The significant growth in production for streaming platforms is currently not included in Diamond, so we will continue to engage with the major streamers to bring them into Diamond data collection to enhance the comprehensive nature of our data collection and reporting. Alongside this, we will address the issue of collecting data from contributions made to Diamond broadcaster’s VoD services, currently not captured.

We have been working closely with our members – Diamond broadcasters and industry organisations such as ScreenSkills, BAFTA, and PACT – to ensure that we achieve our aims. Diamond 2.0 is an ambitious long-term project.

Conclusions and Next Steps

Overall, Diamond data shows increasing diversity in the key characteristics monitored across Diamond broadcasters. However, when we dig a little deeper into the data, we find differences within some of the diversity characteristics, with representation varying across role types and genres.

CDN is convening with leaders across the industry to address the gaps and areas of concern highlighted in this report. This must be accomplished collaboratively.

We will work together with our industry partners to develop recommendations, agree on actions, and work towards a more diverse and inclusive industry for everyone. This means not only making progress in identified areas of underrepresentation but also maintaining progress and building on current strengths.

Thank you!

CDN would like to thank all individual contributors for filling in diversity forms and for their commitment to the Diamond project. We also thank our Diamond broadcasters and production companies, who collaborate with us to make Diamond possible.

Supporting Documents for Diamond: The Seventh Cut

The Seventh Cut – Data Release (Excel)

The Seventh Cut – Genre Data Release (Excel)

The Seventh Cut - Methodology (PDF)

Diamond 2022-2025 Strategy (PDF)

Diamond: The Seventh Cut press release

Read previous Diamond reports here: Diamond reports

*Contributions are similar to a program credit. Each programme contribution is assigned the diversity characteristics of the individual who made that contribution. A single contribution relates to the transmission of a single programme or episode.

Read the Headline Summary (4 min) or in BSL

Audio Version

Previous Diamond Reports

The Seventh Cut Report