The BBC is facing accusations of abandoning Britain’s national heritage after plans emerged to reduce its award-winning state occasions team to a single employee whilst maintaining a 550-strong contingent at Glastonbury Festival.
Critics have condemned the Corporation for prioritising the Somerset music event over coverage of royal ceremonies, veterans’ commemorations and parliamentary traditions as it slashes BBC Studios Events Productions to just one staff member.
Former Attorney General Sir Michael Ellis KC described the decision as “disgraceful” and “anti-British,” stating: “Somehow they can find unlimited resources to send an absurd retinue of 550 staff to the Glastonbury Festival but they want to cut the excellent team who have won awards for their coverage of important ceremonial and key State events in the life of this nation.”
The specialist team, which coordinates broadcasts of occasions including Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph, Trooping the Colour and major royal events, currently operates with no more than six permanent employees. Their work has earned BAFTA recognition for coverage of the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and funeral, with the group receiving a Royal Television Society Award last week for Holocaust Memorial Day broadcasts.
News of the redundancies arrived just one day after that award ceremony, sources confirmed.
The timing has sparked particular controversy given the Corporation’s current leadership vacuum. Director General Tim Davie resigned following criticism over edited Panorama footage of US President Donald Trump and departs this week, though successor Matt Brittin—a former Google executive—does not assume the role until May. Rhodri Talfan Davies will lead the broadcaster during the interim period.
A senior source stated the cuts were being “sneaked through” during the transition, adding: “They will have one person left to answer the phone but they might as well shut the thing down. These big events can take months of planning.”
Buckingham Palace insiders have expressed concern about implications for royal programming quality and scheduling prominence should the team be decimated.
The BBC has already removed Events coverage from May’s State Opening of Parliament, assigning news crews instead. The Corporation also announced it would not broadcast the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race for the first time in a century and replaced live Commonwealth Day Service coverage with an episode of Escape to the Country, citing “funding challenges.”
Former television presenter and Tory MP Esther McVey called the decision “insulting to the memory of veterans,” stating: “Covering occasions, such as the Queen’s funeral, are important for our British-ness and it is frankly distasteful that they are prioritising a music festival over key dates in the diary, such as Remembrance Sunday.”
Ex-Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith warned: “The BBC’s coverage of royal events goes around the world, it is the crown jewels of BBC output. Britain and the BBC does this kind of pageantry very well, so it seems strange that they want to get rid of these people.”
A BBC spokesman insisted viewers would not detect changes, describing the restructuring as efficiency-focused. “We’re proposing some changes that will help us stay strong creatively and continue to deliver high-quality programmes whilst managing our costs,” the spokesman stated.
