This year’s Diamond Report covers a period of profound structural change across the UK television landscape. Audience fragmentation across broadcasters and streamers, an accelerating shift of advertising spend from linear viewing to digital platforms, and industry-wide consolidation are triggering tighter budgets and fewer commissions. For our predominantly freelance workforce, it is an exceptionally challenging environment. Yet, as Chair of CDN, I am deeply encouraged by the industry’s continued resolve to drive progress, create fairer pathways for development, and build a stronger, more inclusive future for us all.

Crucially, the challenges we face inside the industry do not exist in a vacuum. We are operating in a deeply fractured broader world marked by rising systemic inequities, social polarisation, and the troubling rise of extreme rhetoric. Across our communities, we are witnessing sharp increases in antisemitism, Islamophobia, transphobia, and other forms of discrimination. In times of such acute societal issues, our media industry has a heightened responsibility. It is precisely when the outside world feels increasingly volatile that evidence-based action becomes vital. We cannot rely on guesswork, assumptions or fleeting trends; we need rigorous, credible data to ground our strategies and ensure our inclusion efforts remain an immovable priority.

This latest report spotlights where that evidence-based action is yielding results. Off-screen representation of disabled people grew across almost every genre from 8.9% to 10.9% over the past year, while on-screen representation climbed from 9.3% to 11.3%. Over a five-year period, contributions from female writers rose from 33.4% to 40.7%, and contributions from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic writers significantly expanded from 6.5% to 21.3%. For Black writers specifically, contributions peaked at nearly 9% in 2024 after a fourfold increase from 2022; while this figure eased to 6.1% in 2025, screenwriting is one of the few off-screen areas where Black representation exceeds the national workforce estimate.

However, the real power of Diamond lies in its ability to look beyond headlines and track changes over time to expose where progress has stalled or drifted backwards. Concerningly, we have lost momentum for increasing representation of Black creatives off-screen following the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, with Black representation even declining in some areas. This suggests that initial commitments did not lead to embedded, structural change.

The Diamond data on disability representation directly underpinned the creation of the TV Access Project, which has driven transformative advances over the last few years in partnership with broadcasters and CDN. However, it remains a key priority that we actively continue this cross-industry collaboration; disabled creatives remain significantly underrepresented across our workforce, and our collective progress is simply not keeping pace with the growing number of disabled people in wider society. While we celebrate meeting CDN’s initial target last year to double disability representation off-screen – which was predominantly driven by increased contributions from people with learning and cognitive disabilities or mental health conditions – contributions by individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have musculoskeletal conditions has remained flat for five years, suggesting more targeted work is urgently required. Women remain underrepresented in senior creative roles; while female writers have seen gains, the proportion of female directors has stagnated over the last five years.

True equity requires that our progress is sustained, not just achieved temporarily. There is a real risk of complacency; when we see initial improvements, it is easy to assume the job is done and shift our gaze, cutting back on the very work required to maintain or build on that momentum. It is crucial that across the industry, we do not lose focus, and that we all play our part to ensure the TV workforce truly reflects the diversity of our society.

To drive further progress, later this year we will publish our first distinct deep dives into religion and belief, and socio-economic background, which Diamond started measuring in 2025. Using this data is vital as we work to confront and tackle antisemitism, Islamophobia and classism, providing a baseline to help measure the impact of ongoing work being delivered by various organisations.

Furthermore, 2026 marks our transition to an enhanced version of Diamond. Developed through close consultation with stakeholders across the industry – including freelance cast and crew, production companies, post-production companies and industry bodies – this upgraded system will deliver richer data collection, a better experience for users, and improved reporting features for broadcasters, production and post-production companies.

On behalf of the CDN Board, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone across these industry groups who helped shape the new and improved Diamond system. Additionally, I want to thank the individual freelancers and contributors who continue to complete their diversity forms. By taking part, you directly ensure that the insights gathered by Diamond can hold the industry to account and lead to more impactful, lasting change. The findings surfaced in this report are only made possible through your continued collaboration and commitment.

Ultimately, television remains one of our most powerful mediums for joy, entertainment, and connection. At its best, it has an unparalleled ability to bring people together, creating shared cultural moments that transcend our differences and spark vital conversations, particularly in a time of increased division in society.

To truly achieve this, our industry relies on a diverse creative workforce – one that draws from the widest possible talent pool to inject fresh perspectives and authenticity into everything we create. Diamond provides the transparency needed to dismantle barriers and ensure we connect and reflect audiences across the UK. Diamond’s credible data builds a clearer picture, so that we can all create a fairer industry where people and creativity thrive.

Paul Moore,
Chair of the Creative Diversity Network
and Group Communications and Corporate Affairs Director, ITV Plc

“I am deeply encouraged by the industry’s continued resolve to drive progress, create fairer pathways for development, and build a stronger, more inclusive future for us all.”