River City did not pass value for money test, BBC Scotland boss tells MSPs
The long-running soap opera, set in the fictional Glasgow district of Shieldinch, is due to come to an end next year.
Axed soap River City “did not pass the value for money test”, the head of the BBC in Scotland has said.
Bosses announced plans to cancel the show, which has been running since 2002, next year, claiming viewing patterns had shifted.
The decision has raised concerns about impacts on the screen sector in Scotland.
But, appearing at Holyrood’s Culture Committee on Thursday, BBC Scotland director Hayley Valentine said: “I didn’t take this lightly and I did think about the consequences for cast, for crew, for people who are impacted by the decision, of course I did.
“However, we have to put our audience’s needs first and the audience for River City has declined significantly over the past five years.”
Ms Valentine pointed to a number of new dramas set to be produced by the broadcaster, saying: “What we’ll do with these new dramas, which will absolutely cost more to make, but we’d expect them to deliver much bigger audiences than River City does.
“In terms of value for money for the audience, I’m afraid that River City didn’t pass that test for us any longer, and the new dramas, we really hope will.”
The police drama, Shetland, Ms Valentine said, brings in about 700,000 viewers in Scotland and up to eight million elsewhere in the UK, compared to just 200,000 for River City.
Addressing concerns about the future of the sector, she said: “River City is not the only game in town in terms of access to drama in Scotland, whether you’re an actor, whether you’re a director, whether you’re a producer, whether you’re a trainee.
“We offer these opportunities across a really wide range of content, it’s not just River City that does that for us.”
Ms Valentine also pointed to budgetary issues at the broadcaster, telling MSPs she doesn’t “have the money to do everything that I want to”.
“There are a million things that I’d like to do that aren’t possible.
“So I have to make difficult decisions.
“This decision was made on the basis that the audience figures are not performing for us in the way that we need them to.”
Cast and crew, as well as actors’ union Equity, have already appeared before the committee to warn of the impact of the soap’s cancellation.
