Third anniversary marked for BBC’s Across the UK plan

The BBC has given an update on the third anniversary of its Across the UK plan to boost production out of London.

The plan is a blueprint for the BBC’s biggest transformation in decades with more than 350 jobs so far relocated across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

For radio, the update includes:

BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends is to move production to Salford in April, with some programmes also coming from BBC Scotland and Stuart Maconie will join the roster of presenters.

Over the past year Loose Ends has recorded in different locations, including Stirling, Leeds, Liverpool, Leicester, Bristol, Cardiff, and will continue to take the programme out on the road.

BBC Radio 4 has also commissioned a new series, Café Hope presented by Rachel Burden from Salford.

BBC Radio & Music has committed to allocating 50% of spend outside of London. A number of BBC radio programmes have already relocated to Cardiff, Salford, Birmingham, Glasgow and Belfast.

BBC Radio 1’s Early Breakfast show with Dean McCullough will broadcast live from Salford from July. Radio 1 has been broadcasting seven days a week from Salford since 2022 and in September 2023 launched a new weekend breakfast from Cardiff.

Over the last year, 1Xtra has launched three Birmingham-based shows hosted by Kaylee Golding, DJ Day Day, and Theo Johnson, who are all from Birmingham, meaning the station broadcasts from the city from 10am-4pm every weekday.

5 Live is the BBC’s only national station based entirely out of London, with its base in Salford and shows from across the UK.

Asian Network’s new Official British Asian Chart Show is moving to Birmingham from 18th April joining a number of shows already broadcast from the city as part of its move to becoming a central hub.

A new multi-site audio production hub in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast launches next month to increase the volume of content made from Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The BBC Concert Orchestra has also partnered with the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University to support the music education sector in the region.