Are the working classes under-represented in the media?

This is an edited version of an article that appeared in The Yorkshire Post on 5 April 2025 in which Matt Bromley argues that the working classes are underrepresented in the media…

I’m still haunted by the Netflix drama, Adolescence, which I find myself thinking about on dog walks and school runs. 

Starring Stephen Graham, the four-part series explores the aftermath of the murder of a teenage girl. The main suspect is the victim’s 13-year-old classmate, Jamie, who’s been indoctrinated by Incel influencers on social media. We see in real-time (each hour-long episode is filmed in a single take) the impact of the crime on Jamie and his family.

It is one of the best TV dramas I’ve ever seen, and it is made, almost exclusively, by working-class creatives from the north of England. Stephen Graham, who not only leads the cast but created and co-wrote the series, was born in Kirby, Lancashire, and was brought up by his social worker mother and mechanic father. Graham’s on-screen wife, played by Christine Tremarco, is a working-class Liverpudlian; police officer DS Frank is portrayed by Middlesborough-born Faye Marsay, also from a working-class background; and the young cast members, including Owen Cooper who plays Jamie, are all working-class children from Yorkshire where the show is filmed and set.

Often, dramas made by and about northern working-class people are called ‘gritty’. It may be a lazy trope but it’s probably true. After all, they tend to be grounded in truth; they’re not glossy and fake. From the northern kitchen sink dramas of the 1960s like Billy Liar, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, and Look Back in Anger, to this year’s Adolescence, these shows portray the human condition in all its naked, uncomfortable complexity. 

Perhaps that’s why Adolescence has stayed with me weeks after watching it: it held a mirror up to a life I know and have lived.

But there’s another reason why this drama has stuck fast: because it’s a dying art form. 

The TV and film industry, and the creative arts more generally, is becoming a closed shop for those who live outside London and for those without the wealth and network needed to get a foot in the studio door. 

By way of illustration, 86% of internships in the creative industries are unpaid, meaning that only those with independent financial means can afford to take them. What’s more, it’s still a matter of who you know not whatyou know; success all too often relies on access to a network of well-heeled contacts.

Last year, research by Channel 4 revealed that fewer than 10% of people in the film and television industry were from working-class backgrounds. And most were based in London. The study also found that only 8% of creatives working in the media were working-class and just 16% of people in the performing arts came from working-class communities. 

Analysis by the charity, Child of the North, published in March this year, offered some insight into why working-class people from the north of England are so underrepresented in the arts industry.

The study found that, due to a lack of funding in state schools, 93% of children are being excluded from arts and cultural education. The English Baccalaureate demoted arts subjects from the curriculum in favour of more academic pursuits. As a result, 42% of schools are no longer entering pupils for GCSE Music, 41% no longer offer GCSE Drama, and a staggering 84% don’t offer GCSE Dance. 

Often, when arts subjects are not available on the core curriculum, young people access it via extra-curricular activities instead. Not only has participation in extra-curricular activities fallen from 46% before the pandemic to 37% after the pandemic, but access is also far from equitable. Financial and logistical barriers often prevent children who live in poverty from taking part, and yet these are the young people who need it most because they have limited exposure to cultural experiences outside of school. 

It’s not just about arts for arts’ sake, either; an arts education can provide up to three months of academic progress in English, maths and science. And then there’s the financial benefits: the UK creative sector contributes nearly £13m to the economy every hour. Just imagine how much more the economy would benefit if the northern working-classes, which are one of the largest populations in the country, were able to contribute. 

The industry must act because a lack of representation will become a self-fulfilling prophecy: if there are fewer northern working-class people both on screen and behind the camera, young work-class people from the north will not see themselves reflected there and will decide that the industry is not for the likes of them. 

About the author

Matt Bromley is CEO of bee and Chair of the Building Equity in Education Campaign. He is an education journalist, author, and advisor with over twenty-five years’ experience in teaching and leadership including as a headteacher. He is now a public speaker, trainer, initial teacher training lecturer, and school improvement advisor, and remains a practising teacher. Matt writes for various magazines, is the author of numerous best-selling books on education, and co-hosts an award-winning podcast. Find out more at bee-online.uk

Matt’s next book, out in May 2025 and published by Routledge, is called Why School Doesn’t Work for Every Child and explores ways of creating more inclusive schools.