Petition to save BBC's River City soap attracts support of more than 10,000
More than 10,000 people have signed a petition urging the BBC not to axe the 'iconic' Scottish soap opera River City – with leading politicians amongst those bidding to keep the show going.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie pledged they would 'strain every sinew to save the show and support Scottish talent'.
The long-running show, set in the fictional community of Shieldinch, is filmed in her Dumbarton constituency.
And Ms Baillie, who visited the set along with fellow Labour MSPs Neil Bibby and Pam Duncan-Glancy, insisted that 'the BBC must change its mind'.
Posting on the social media platform X, she stated: 'River City is an iconic show that platforms Scottish actors while supporting Scotland's film and TV industry.'
Scottish Culture Secretary Angus Robertson meanwhile said: 'I share the concerns of many in the screen sector about recent TV commissioning for Scotland, including ending of River City.'
He added that while BBC Scotland had confirmed three new drama projects at the same time as they announced the decision to end River City, two of these new programmes would be made by London production companies.
The comments came as the petition, launched by the trade union Equity – which represents actors and others working in the creative industries – insisted the long-running programme is one of 'Scotland's most viewed and best-loved TV shows'.
And it claimed the decision by the BBC to end the drama in the autumn of 2026 is an 'attack on Scottish-made TV drama, Scottish TV workers and the soap's 500,000 loyal viewers'.
River City has been on air since 2002, but BBC Scotland said the decision to end the show reflected a change in viewing patterns, with audiences moving away from long-running series and instead opting for shows with shorter runs.
Announcing the decision earlier this month, BBC Scotland director Hayley Valentine said they would 'all be sad to see it go'.
But she added: 'But, as viewing patterns change, and competition intensifies, this is the right time to invest in the next generation of high-impact drama series from across Scotland showcasing storytelling across the UK.'
Equity general secretary Paul W Fleming, who visited the River City set earlier this week, said it had been important to 'hear direct about the impact that losing this show would have on training, acting and creative opportunities in Scotland'.
He said: 'River City is the only Scottish soap, so its closure would be devastating for local talent.
'Equity will continue to campaign and lobby to save River City, and demand that the show's £9 million annual budget be ringfenced for continuing drama in Scotland.'
Equity Scotland official Marlene Curran added that there has been a 'great outpouring of support for River City, from members of the public, politicians and those who work in the Scottish screen industry alike'.
She added: 'This shows that, unlike the decision-makers at BBC Scotland, people know the value of the show and why it should be saved.
'Not only do long-running soaps like River City work as a training ground for those starting out in the industry, but they also offer the all-too-rare benefit of job security in an industry that is otherwise characterised by precarity and excludes those from working class backgrounds.'
A BBC Scotland spokesperson stressed that 'the decision to end River City is a creative one driven by changing audience habits and declining viewing figures'.
The spokesperson said: 'Audience patterns have shifted away from long-running serials to short-run dramas so that is where we will be moving our drama investment. This is about value for money for the audience.
'We are not cutting our drama spend in Scotland – in fact, we will increase it to around £95 million over the next three years.
'The Dumbarton lease coming to an end next year is not the reason River City will cease in September 2026 – the overriding factor has been an audience-driven one.'
The spokesperson continued: 'River City training opportunities will remain active for another year until we cease production in April 2026.
'We are actively working with BBC colleagues, the independent companies making our newly announced dramas and others in the industry on future training opportunities.
'Our new dramas are written by Scottish writers, they will employ a wide range of Scottish-based talent and will be made by producers with bases in Scotland – just like River City.'
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Graziadaily
6 minutes ago
- Graziadaily
Is New BBC Drama 'What It Feels Like For A Girl' Worth Watching? Reviews Are In
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The series doesn't shy away from the harsh reality of navigating the world that shaper her, telling a raw story that is love overdue, and already it's pulling in amazing reviews from critics. Ellis Howard plays Byron in the show, a teenager at school who is pulled between different homes while struggling with his own identity. The role was inspired by the life of Paris Lees, the author and campaigner who was the first trans woman to present shows on BBC Radio 1 and Channel 4. Speaking about the role, Howard said: 'Byron is at school, without much of a support system, bouncing between their mum's, dad's and Mommar Joe's homes with a desperate internal desire to escape,' continuing 'It's the story of someone who has grown up in a small town with people who aren't like them, dreaming of a life bigger and bolder.' Howard has had roles in the TV series Red Rose (2022) and the film Romeo & Juliet (2021). Laquarn Lewis takes on the role of Lady Die, a podium dancer in the nightclubs of Nottingham. 'Lady Die is eye-catching, fashionable and super stylish,' Lewis says of her character. 'She's over-caring, loving, fun, wild and crazy. I could relate to her, as she has a loving nature. She's someone everyone would want as a friend, and that's what I love about her.' Lewis previously played Elliott in the television series Jamie Johnson. Laura Haddock plays Lisa, Byron's mum who is struggling with her relationship with her son. 'Lisa is Byron's mother, and [with] Byron secretly struggling with their sexuality and gender identity, [their] relationship isn't what it was,' says Haddock. 'She also feels like she's done the hard bit bringing them up and she deserves to have a life now. Their relationship is really strained; she is struggling to understand Byron and accept who they want to be.' You might recognise Haddock from her starring roles in films such as Guardians of the Galaxy, The Laureate and Downton Abbey: A New Era. She has also had starring roles in Da Vinci's Demons, White Lines and The Recruit. Bryon's father Steve is played by Michael Socha, a working class man known locally as 'Hucknall's most feared man.' 'He struggles to accept Byron's femininity and is determined to toughen them up, which can come across as aggressive and even violent at times,' said Socha speaking about his character. 'His frustration stems from Byron not fitting the traditional idea of masculinity, and this manifests in harsh demands for Byron to "man up."' Jake Dunn plays Liam, a 'bad-boy' figure who Byron is drawn in by. 'Liam's a complicated, intense character,' says Dunn. 'While we share some similarities, like being from Nottingham and being in our early twenties, he's completely different from me. He's a gangster who is involved in some dark stuff.' Jake has also had roles in Renegade Nell and Get Even. Hannah Jones plays trans girl Sasha, who is part of the Fallen Divas who take Byron in. Speaking about her role, Hannah explained Sasha is a 'proud scouse' who is 'volatile and aggressive' at times. 'I just think she's a great person, as much as she is a terrible person. There's so much underlying love and misunderstanding of her personality, and she goes through so much trauma and strife in her life,' Jones said. Alex Thomas-Smith plays Sticky Nikki, who is a slightly older member of the Fallen Divas. 'Sticky Nikki is a passionate and headstrong woman who deeply values her friends, relationships and life' says Thomas-Smith when speaking about her role. 'She's a little older than the other girls, which allows her to look at their more-outrageous behaviour with a sense of understanding. Her role is about supporting the others, encouraging them to have fun, but also imparting some of the lessons she's learnt along the way.' 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The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
The warehouse powering Edinburgh's new era of screen success
But a new era of screen success for the city is now being propelled behind closed doors on the edge of the city's docklands – in a former wave power plant, which was originally built 25 years ago by an engineering company. Matthew Goode and Alexej Manvelov star in the new Edinburgh-set thriller Dept Q. (Image: Netflix) Launched by former record company film producer Bob Last and actor director Jason Connery, son of the Edinburgh-born screen legend Sean Connery, FirstStage is now said to be generating tens of millions of pounds for the economy every year and allowing the city to capitalise on the streaming platform boom. New Netflix series Dept. Q, which stars Leah Byrne, Matthew Goode and Alexej Manvelov, was shot at FirstStage Studios in Leith. (Image: Netflix - Department Q) The conversion of the vast blue warehouse complex into a long-awaited permanent film studio for the city got underway just as the global screen industry was being put into lockdown by the pandemic - and hosted its first major production as soon as Covid restrictions were lifted across the UK. Five years later, FirstStage Studios has played host to some of the biggest players in the lucrative world of 'streamers,' including Amazon, Netflix and Sony, and transformed Edinburgh's ability to play host to productions. Two seasons of the supernatural thriller series The Rig were shot at FirstStage Studios in Leith. (Image: FirstStage Studios) These include two seasons of the supernatural thriller The Rig, which were set in the North Sea and the Arctic Circle, the feature film The Outrun, for scenes set in London's nightclub scene and the time travel fantasy saga Outlander, for a final series expected to be set during the American Revolution. But its most recent production is being seen as another game-changer for the city's screen industry – with FirstStage used for the first time for a new nine-part thriller set in modern-day Edinburgh which is hoped to become a long-running series. The feature film The Outrun was partly shot at FirstStage Studios in Leith. (Image: Bob Last/FirstStage Studios) Locations across the Scottish capital were deployed for the latest Netflix thriller Dept. Q, which focuses on a new cold case unit set up in the heart of a police headquarters in the city. Although detective Carl Morck and his team appear to be based in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, the inside of the atmospheric HQ and its grimy basement were created from scratch at FirstStage, along with other elaborate sets that feature in the show. A pit that can be used for underwater filming sequences is one of the key assets at FirstStage Studios in Leith. (Image: FirstStage Studios) The Downton Abbey and Crown actor Matthew Goode and a host of Scottish screen stars, including Shirley Henderson, Kate Dickie, Mark Bonnar, Jamie Sives and Leah Byrne, spent around six months making Dept. Q in Edinburgh – with around half of the film done inside the Leith studio. Eagle-eyed viewers may also be able to spot locations as varied as the City Chambers, the Signet Library, Greyfriars Bobby's Bar, Mortonhall Crematorium, Wester Hailes, the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena near Ratho and the Codebase building, on Castle Terrace, which stands in for the exterior of the police HQ. Launching the show in Edinburgh, writer-director Scott Frank, creator of the hit Netflix series the Queen's Gambit, described the extensive shoot on Dept. Q - which is based on Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen's novels - as 'the happiest experience' of his career. He said: 'You have great crews, you have great people and everything about shooting here is easy. 'The weather is interesting. It's the only place I've ever been where you can all four seasons in one day. 'The studio was wonderful. We had some pretty big sets and, partially because of the weather, we shot around half the show there. It was terrific. I loved working there.' Successive generations of Scottish screen industry leaders had lobbied for years for the country to create its own studio facilities. But the long-held dream did not become a reality until the Scottish Government and its screen agency agreed to help support Sony and Starz to find a home for its new show Outlander, which began filming in 2013 in a warehouse complex beside the M80 motorway in Cumbernauld. Four years later, the Leith Docks site, which was lying empty after a wave power company had gone into administration, was used for the first time by Marvel Studios while they spent around seven weeks shooting scenes for the blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War in the city's Old Town. Within months of the superhero being released, the Scottish Government and its Screen Scotland agency had launched a bid to create a permanent studio facility there, with Bob Last and Jason Connery announced as the successful team to take the project forward in March 2020. Bob Last said: 'When I was an independent film producer there was a lot of talk about studios, but I wouldn't have been able to afford to use one if it had been there on the budget of an independent film. 'There wasn't really enough demand for a studio until the streamers started making the level of content that they did. I saw that they were completely changing the way that people consumed content. 'When I was introduced to this building it was the first time that I felt there was a viable way of providing the scale that these huge shows needed. If we were going to attract shows to Scotland it was all going to be about competitive cost. "There used to be a lot of talk about building new studios from scratch in Scotland. But the cost of that would have meant that any such studio would have priced itself out of the market. 'We've been extremely busy since we opened pretty much on the first day of lockdown. We've had Amazon, Sony and Netlix shows in now, and have also been doing a rolling programme of work on the building, which has all sorts of unique and extraordinary elements. 'The pit that we use as a tank is one of the most interesting assets we have. If you were building a studio from scratch it would be insanely expensive to build, but it has turned out to be extremely useful. 'We also have 60 tonne and 20 tonne cranes, which have also been used by productions. You would never install them in a studio.' Chloe Pirrie is one of the stars of the new Netflix series Dept. Q, which is set in Edinburgh. (Image: free)The Scottish Government's film and TV agency Screen Scotland describes FirstStage Studios as a 'unique proposition' due to its size and facilities. The complex, which covers 8.9 acres, boasts 115,000 sq ft of shooting space up to 82 ft high, as well as offices, workshops and on-site parking for more than 200 vehicles. A spokesperson said: 'FirstStage has a number of key advantages. "It is one of very few UK-based studios to host a tank for underwater shooting, which has been used in productions including The Rig and The Outrun. 'Because of its height, FirstStage also has the capacity for very large set builds, and the large backlot as well as production offices and ancillary buildings on site. 'On its opening in 2020, once Covid restrictions were lifted it immediately became home to The Rig, Amazon's first UK drama commission. Created by Portobello-based writer David Macpherson, it perfectly highlighted the versatility and quality of the studio. An incredibly ambitious project, it was shot entirely in Scotland, and largely inside the FirstStage studio and surrounding lot. "Dept. Q from Netflix has built further on the potential first realised by The Rig and has again shown that FirstStage can deliver against the expectations and requirements of large-scale international productions.' Bob Last said: "If we knew the budgets of our customers we wouldn't be able to talk about them. "When a big show comes in here they will spend a lot of money in the city. We can have 200 people working here at the same time. "We are certainly anchoring tens of millions of pounds in direct spending ever year." Rosie Ellison, film commissioner at Film Edinburgh, the city's long-running film office, highlighted the transformation of the screen industry since the advent of the Leith studio. 'Edinburgh used to pick up a couple of days of or maybe a week or two of filming on productions. 'A production based at FirstStage might be here for a full six months of filming, plus another two or three months of preparation, plus another month or so winding down the production. 'The economic impact of a production and the opportunities it creates are very different to what they were before we had the studio. Productions are spending a lot when they are here, they are hiring local services and creating jobs for our young people to get involved in the industry. 'Dept Q was based at FirstStage, but they were also out and about every month, making use of our urban, rural and coastal locations, different kinds of architecture and office spaces. All sorts of landscapes will appear in that show, including places that people have never been seen on screen before." FirstStage Studios in Leith has been up and running for more than five years. (Image: FirstStage Studios)Hugh Gourlay, supervising location manager on Dept. Q said: "We filmed in something like 13 of the city's 17 council wards. 'There's such a variance in the architecture in Edinburgh: you've got the New Town, the medieval parts, the narrow closes, the wide streets, and the high-rise flats of parts of the city." For Bob Last, the city itself is a major selling point to help attract big-budget productions to FirstStage. 'Ware now on that global map because of the shows that have been here. When people are sitting in LA going down a list of studios we are on that list. That's where we need to be. "For us, Edinburgh as a city for someone to come and live and work in for six months is a massively important asset. There are five stars hotels near the studio and Michelin-starred restaurants literally walking distance away. 'These kind of shows are bringing people in from a global talent pool. If you're going to live and work somewhere for six months Edinburgh is a pretty cool place to do that.' Speaking at the Dept Q premiere in Edinburgh, showrunner Scott Frank said: 'When I came to Edinburgh I immediately knew we had to shoot here. I felt instantly inspired. 'It made me want to work even more in terms of the story to make it work more for Edinburgh. It was a really easy decision to film here. 'I loved living here and it was very easy to work here. I found Edinburgh very inspiring. 'I would love to come back. We'd all love to come back. We really enjoyed ourselves and I think we all got very close. I think we have a really good way of doing the second season. I hope people watch the show and we get to do it again.'
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Concerns as park left 'churned up' after BBC Radio 1 event
Part of a city park has been left damaged, with grass and paths "churned up by vehicles" after a music event was held there, a local councillor has Park in Liverpool hosted the three-day BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend over the May Bank Holiday days on from the event, local people have been sharing photographs online of the damage to grass and City Council said "the damage was not extensive" but the BBC was responsible for any repairs. BBC Radio 1 has been contacted for comment. Opposition councillor Liberal Democrat Richard Kemp said he was concerned about the scale of the damage."I'm concerned about the grass and any gouging effects and trees pushed back or damaged during the installation of security fencing," he said. Mr Kemp, a councillor for nearby Penny Lane, added he had requested a report from the council to look at the impact to the local area and the environment.A city council representative said site walks had already taken place and a plan was "currently being pulled together which will provide a timescale for the repairs". "The damage is not extensive and the reinstatement work will be carried out by Liverpool Street Scene Ltd," it added. In 2024 the city became the world's first Accelerator City for climate action, under UN Climate Change's Entertainment and Culture for Climate Action city council representative said the authority had worked with external specialists to monitor the impact of the Big Weekend event, which included the "impact on the environment and sustainability" and would share those finding once a report has been written "in the coming months". Regular Sefton Park user Adam said he thought he damage was "minimal" and said it was "no worse than on a campsite where tents have been".A local resident, who did not want to be named, said she thought the grass had been protected "really well" and the event had been well organised."There was hardly any traffic disruption and not much noise," she said."The streets were fairly clean after, much cleaner than after a lot of other events. I thought it was really good for the city." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
