Channel 4 chief answers MSP's claims that company fails Scotland

Published on Wednesday 9 December 2009 22:05

CHANNEL 4 chief Stuart Cosgrove had to answer claims yesterday that he has "not delivered" for the TV industry in Scotland.

He told Holyrood's culture committee that Channel 4 had brought a string of awards to Scotland since he joined 17 years ago.

The committee heard the channel is to spend 6.1 million in Scotland this year, 2.1 per cent of its network budget. This is down from 2.6 per cent in 2006 but up from 1.4 per cent last year.

Tory MSP Ted Brocklebank, a former programme maker, said: "If I were a disgruntled indie I might say that Stuart Cosgrove has been great to Channel 4, he's kept the natives quiet. He's done a great job in talking up Scotland but actually, some say, not really delivering very much for Scotland."

He said there should be a production base in Scotland after the emergence of shows like Take the High Road and Machar in STV's early days . "There was a build-up of dramatic talent in Scotland. We've seen it recently in River City," he said. "Critics, not only of you but of the BBC and STV, would say that talent wasn't nurtured by the commissioning editors."

Mr Brocklebank said this is why a city such as Glasgow was in a weak position compared with the likes of Manchester and Bristol.

"The commissioning editors, in a sense, failed Scotland," he said.

But Mr Cosgrove, Channel 4's director of the nations and regions, said he was "massively proud" that Channel 4's Film Four offshoot had won international awards, including Oscars, Baftas and Emmys, for Scotland.

He told Mr Brocklebank: "The programmes you said did not win awards, Machar and Take the High Road. On the global stage that Film Four plays, Scotland does really well and we win those awards. I would not trade that for another episode of Take the High Road."