Tony Hall said the BBC could do more to devolve decision-making on BBC services to the devolved nations.

The director-general of the BBC Tony Hall laid into the doomsayers who had criticised the BBC’s decision to move some of its drama production to Cardiff during a speech at Cardiff Business Club last night.

Describing his first visit to the Roath Lock studios as director-general two and a half years ago, Mr Hall said “there were still voices which said that the BBC had taken too much of a risk trying to create a centre of excellence for drama in Cardiff. The independent sector would not be strong enough. The talent wasn’t here.  “We felt differently.

“Today Roath Lock is a world-class powerhouse of drama production. The permanent home of flagship dramas Doctor Who, Casualty and Pobol y Cwm.

“And BBC Wales’ success in network production has been a catalyst for the remarkable transformation of the creative industries in Wales – a sector capable of attracting Hartswood, the makers of Sherlock; Fiction Factory, makers of Hinterland; Fox, makers of The Bastard Executioner; and of course Pinewood, whose new studios mean more investment and jobs, and more sustained economic activity for Wales.”

The director-general said that Russell T Davies chose Wales to make A Midsummer Night’s Dream “because he believed only the team capable of creating the alien lifeforms and landscapes of the furthest reaches of the galaxy could recreate the fairyland dreamscapes of Shakespeare’s setting.”

Mr Hall said the corporation’s move to its new headquarters building in central Cardiff would “kick start one of the biggest regeneration projects in Cardiff’s recent history, spreading yet more benefits– just as we have in Salford and Glasgow.”

A recent economic impact study estimated that the BBC’s move to Central Square could help generate £1bn in benefits to the South Wales economy over the next decade.

But he admitted that the BBC could do more to “tell the story” of Wales to the rest of the UK.

And he added that the corporation could be better at devolving decision-making about how it spend its money on BBC services “for the nations, to the nations.”
Mr Hall also spoke about the review of the corporation’s charter, and made a plea for the new charter to strengthen the BBC’s independence “which is fundamental to its creativity.”

He said only a broadcaster that was not afraid to take risks would have made successful programmes such as the Great British Bake Off, Blackadder or Wolf Hall.

He added that the BBC’s independence has “suffered 20 years of gradual erosion”, and said that reducing the length of the charter to five years would threaten it further by bringing charter renewal within the political cycle.