Film and TV in the UK: industry profile

The UK film and television production industry stands as one of the country’s most dynamic and globally competitive sectors, having contributed approximately £14.8 billion in gross value added to the economy in 2023. Following the introduction of dedicated film and high-end television (HETV) tax reliefs in 2007 and 2013 respectively, the industry has seen a marked uptick in investment, making it Europe’s largest.

Despite periods of volatility, its overall trajectory in recent years has been one of robust expansion. According to the ONS, the total turnover of the motion picture, video and television programme activities sector turnover rose to £39.5 billion in 2023, up on 2022 (£37.6 billion) and 2021 (£31.5 billion). The number of enterprises active in the sector has also increased: in 2021 the figure stood at 26,230, by 2022 it had increased to 27,248, and in 2023 it stood at 28,586.

Figures compiled by the British Film Institute (BFI) show that total production spending in film and high-end television (HETV) decreased in 2023, as the industry was hit by Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes. However, it rebounded sharply in 2024, reaching £5.6 billion — an increase of 31% on the previous year. Of this, HETV accounted for £3.4 billion, and film for £2.1 billion. The UK’s reputation for skilled crews, high-end infrastructure and competitive tax incentives continues to attract major international productions such as Barbie and Wicked.

However, these encouraging headline numbers mask structural challenges. For one, whilst investment continues to flood in from abroad, domestic film and TV output is fragile, squeezed by rising costs, limited access to finance, and intense competition for commissions. Inward investment and co-production projects accounted for an overwhelming 86% of total film and HETV production spending in 2024, and the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee have raised concerns that such an imbalance puts “the healthy functioning of the entire industry at risk”. In 2025 the number of film and HETV productions has fallen even as production spending has increased, suggesting consolidation around fewer, higher-budget projects — often funded by overseas investors.

Concerns have also been raised about other issues, including skills shortages, working conditions and workforce retention, and the impact of AI. Whether the government succeeds in its mission to make the UK “the best place in the world to make film and TV” may depend on how well the industry is able to address such challenges, which are explored in more detail below.

At a high level, the UK’s film and TV production industry may be divided into four main segments, which are outlined below. It should be noted, however, that these segments are not entirely clear-cut (the lines between film and television continue to blur in the streaming era, for example), and that many companies operate across multiple segments.

This segment is concerned with the production of feature-length films, whether intended for cinematic release or direct-to-streaming. Its outputs range from major franchise blockbusters to low-budget independent films.

Data compiled by the BFI show that big-budget studio films – often financed by US studios or streamers – dominate UK feature film production by spend. Inward investment films accounted for 87% of total film production expenditure in 2024, with US studios and major streamers (eg, Netflix, Apple, Amazon) accounting for 65%.

Wholly UK-funded films (about 9% of total 2024 film spend) and co-productions (4% of total spend) account for a comparatively small share of this segment, although they may be culturally important and occasionally achieve global acclaim.

HETV refers to television programmes with average production expenditure above a certain threshold (commonly £1 million per hour of slot length) – typically premium dramas, comedies or documentaries.

This has become the largest segment by expenditure as global streamers like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ have made the UK a key base for their big series, such as The Crown. In 2024, total HETV production expenditure was £3.4 billion – considerably more than the £2.1 billion spent on feature film production.

As with feature films, this segment is dominated by inward investment, which made up 82% of HETV spending in 2024. The UK’s own broadcasters (BBC, ITV, and so on) also contribute to HETV with high-end dramas (such as Peaky Blinders), although they generally operate with smaller budgets than the streamers.

This segment covers general television programming that does not meet the HETV expenditure threshold. It includes lower-budget documentaries, reality TV, continuing dramas (soaps), children's programming, news and current affairs coverage, and so on.

These outputs are usually funded domestically (often by public service broadcasters) and fill many hours of schedules. Despite lower per-episode spending than HETV, significant numbers of crew and creative talent are employed in their creation, and formats developed in the UK (from Love Island to Peppa Pig) often sell well internationally.

However, there are some indications that pressure to compete with streamers’ HETV budgets is leading public broadcasters to divert funding away from this segment.

Despite overlapping with the aforementioned segments, animation is often considered a distinct segment in its own right, due to its specialised production processes. It includes animated content for both TV and film.

The UK has rich heritage and world-leading expertise in animation. For example, Aardman – the world-renowned studio behind Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run – produces animated films, TV series, and visual effects for global clients.

The UK’s status as a magnet for global film and television production is one of its defining competitive strengths. Generous tax incentives, world-class facilities and a highly skilled workforce have helped attract impressive levels of inward investment. However, there is some concern that the industry is becoming excessively focused and dependent on foreign funding, leaving many domestic projects facing a challenging landscape.

The House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Committee have warned that “the UK’s exposure to the US market for inward investment is not without risk”. Global shocks can cause considerable disruption, as was demonstrated in 2023 when the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes led inward investment to fall by 49% in HETV and 35% in film. Should Donald Trump follow through on his threat to impose 100% tariffs on non-US made films, for example, the industry will likely face severe hardship.

Meanwhile, scholars at the University of Reading warn that the boom in international investment has inflated production costs to levels unaffordable for traditional UK commissioners, leaving many domestic producers struggling to secure budgets, retain IP, and compete for talent and studio space. A recent Variety article reports that the UK film and TV industry is “juggling a boom in Hollywood productions [...] and a bust for everything else”.

Domestic HETV production fell sharply in 2024 — down by around a quarter in both volume and spend — as declining advertising revenue and reduced licence fee income hit broadcasters' budgets, leaving them ill-equipped to compete with wealthier international investors. The BBC reports that many greenlit productions are stuck in “funding limbo”.

Here, policymakers and industry leaders must perform delicate balancing act. As the British Film Commission have stressed, the benefits of inward investment should not be overlooked. But some prominent voices — including the CMS Committee — contend that without additional support for domestic commissioning, the UK risks drifting into the role of a mere service provider for international studios.

It remains to be seen whether the government will succeed in fostering a “mixed film and TV ecology”, which both welcomes inward investment and enables the “sustained production of culturally relevant UK content”. In pursuit of this goal, they will likely seek to learn lessons from other jurisdictions' attempts to influence the shape of the market — such as the EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive.

Recently, several prominent industry voices have drawn attention to issues around skills, training and working conditions which may threaten the long-term growth potential of the sector. A number of suggestions have been put forward as to how these issues might be addressed.

For one, the BFI’s Sustainable Future for Skills report identifies a “complex and fragmented” training ecosystem, and calls for a pan-sector strategic skills body — potentially a transformed ScreenSkills — to coordinate long-term planning. It also argues for closer alignment between educational provision and industry demand, and better careers information in schools.

Others have highlighted insecurity and difficult working conditions for those working in the creative industries (of which TV and film make up a key part). According to Bectu’s Big Survey 2025, only 20% of creative industry workers — and just 13% of freelancers — feel secure in their jobs, with 43% of screen industry respondents out of work at the time of the survey. Respondents also flagged issues such as long hours and late payments as contributing to poor wellbeing. The survey results indicate that nearly a third of creative industry workers expect to leave within five years, raising concerns about a looming skills drain.

These issues are echoed in a Screen Industry Voices report on freelancers (published April 2025), which warns that financial precarity, inconsistent working practices, and a lack of support are leading experienced professionals to leave the sector, posing “a serious threat” to its very existence. It recommends coordinated action: centralised online resources for freelancers, industry-wide standards, improved data collection, and the creation of a Minister for Self-Employment and Precarious Workers.

The House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee has urged government to appoint a Freelancers’ Commissioner "with appropriate powers and cross-departmental oversight", though ministers have so far opted only to create a “creative freelance champion” role.

Some recently announced initiatives may go some way to addressing the issues in this area. For example, the government have pledged £10 million for an expansion of the National Film and Television School, as well as funding to scale up the BFI Film Academy. ScreenSkills’ 2024 strategy likewise aims to strengthen training pathways and support an inclusive, agile workforce.

Perhaps the most significant technological trend affecting the industry at present is the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the creative process. On this issue, industry perspectives diverge. Some emphasise the opportunities that AI offers, whilst others voice strong concerns about its implications.

The British Film Commission highlight AI’s potential to bring about “increased efficiency, cost savings, and enhanced creativity”, and there are reports of AI being used in rough-cut assembly, pre-visualisation, and storyboarding, for example. In VFX, AI has the potential to streamline labour-intensive tasks like rotoscoping, digital de-aging, and crowd generation.

Yet alongside these opportunities, significant anxieties persist. For instance, Equity warn that most generative AI systems have been trained on copyrighted works “without authorisation or remuneration,” describing this as “industrial-scale illegal infringement,” and strongly opposing proposals for a UK text-and-data-mining exception that would allow protected works to be scraped without permission. Actors have also expressed concern about on-set body scanning, and the lack of clarity as to their rights with regard to the biometric data produced.

The House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee has called on the government to fund the BFI’s development of an “AI observatory” and to institute an AI certification scheme to ensure compliance with copyright and data standards. However, the government has pushed back on the latter suggestion, arguing that certification requirements could “restrict innovation” and declining to link them to tax relief eligibility.

As adoption accelerates, the sector faces a central challenge: how to harness AI to enhance storytelling and production efficiency, without undermining foundational human creativity and skills.

Access to finance remains one of the most persistent structural constraints on the UK film and television sector, especially for independent producers and smaller businesses. According to the BBC, independent film producers seeking to build projects of scale often face significant difficulties in accessing equity finance, and 60% of the film and TV firms which responded to a recent Creative UK survey cited access to finance as a key growth barrier.

Creative UK’s ‘Lights, Camera, Capital!’ report (July 2025) sheds further light on the extent of this issue. Its findings are stark: although 74% of screen businesses use external finance, 83% still face unmet finance demand, and 77% feel underfunded. More than half of unsuccessful applicants were told their business was “too risky,” and 41% feel lenders do not understand their sector. As a result, many rely heavily on short-term debt and funding from family and friends.

Various suggestions have been put forward as to how the situation might be improved. For example, the House of Commons CMS Committee has urged the government to review changes to the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) "to ensure producers can and do access the full range of finance for their films" — though the government has declined to launch a formal review.

Some efforts are already underway. Creative Enterprise, backed by the BFI, is running targeted programmes which aim to build investment readiness, for instance. Meanwhile, the £150 million Creative Places Growth Fund may help to widen access to finance outside London. However, Creative UK stress that if change is to be delivered at scale, it is vital to tackle underlying perception gaps and risk assumptions.

The UK’s tax incentives for film and TV production are among the most competitive in the world. A major overhaul in 2023–24 replaced the long-standing film, high-end TV, animation and children’s TV tax reliefs with the new Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC), designed to simplify the system while enhancing its value.

Under AVEC, film and high-end TV projects are eligible for a taxable credit of 34% (equivalent to 25.5% under the previous regime), with higher rates available for specific formats and budget levels. Children’s TV, animated TV and animated films receive a 39% credit, while the new Enhanced AVEC for lower budget film (also known as IFTC) offers a 53% rate for lower-budget UK features — tapered for productions with core expenditure between £15 million and £23.5 million. To qualify, projects must be certified as British through the cultural test or be an official co-production.

A further enhancement came into force in April 2025: an additional 5% credit for visual effects (VFX), bringing the total relief for VFX work to 39%. This is expected to strengthen the UK’s competitiveness in a global market where VFX capacity is increasingly central to both studio and streamer production strategies.

Beyond production reliefs, the government has also introduced a new 40% business rates relief for film studios, running until 2034. This aims to support long-term infrastructure growth amid major studio expansions in London and the regions.

There are ongoing policy debates over how the film and TV tax landscape should evolve. The British Film Commission, for example, have urged the government to consider introducing regional AVEC uplifts to strengthen activity outside London and the South East. Meanwhile, the House of Commons CMS Committee have recommended the introduction of a 25% Prints & Advertising (P&A) relief to support distribution, and the recognition of creative development as R&D for tax relief purposes. The government, however, has resisted some of these proposals, including ruling out any immediate changes to the definition of R&D.

The size and diversity of the UK film and TV industry means that any list of notable players will not be fully representative or comprehensive.

That said, some examples of noteworthy players are set out below.

• Aardman – world-renowned, Oscar-winning animation studio based in Bristol, famed for its stop-motion creations like Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run.
• All3Media – leading independent TV production group with several subsidiaries, behind both scripted and unscripted hits.
• Bad Wolf – Cardiff-based television production company known for high-end series such as His Dark Materials.
• Banijay UK – the British arm of Banijay Group, renowned for popular unscripted formats such as MasterChef.
• BBC Studios – the BBC’s commercial production arm, spanning genres from prestige drama and natural history to entertainment.
• Blue Zoo – award-winning UK animation studio; producer of children’s animated content including The Adventures of Paddington and Numberblocks.
• Film4 Productions – the feature film arm of Channel 4 and a cornerstone of British independent cinema, developing and co-financing films by emerging and established UK talent.
• Framestore – Academy Award winning visual effects house, headquartered in London.
• Fremantle – London-headquartered international producer of television programmes and films, best known for entertainment mega-brands like The X Factor.
• ITV Studios – the production and distribution division of broadcaster ITV, known for popular dramas and entertainment franchises, and a major exporter of British formats internationally.
• Marv Studios – London-based production company, best known for high-budget, stylised action films such as Argylle.
• Pinewood Group – leading studio facilities company, operating Pinewood Studios and Shepperton Studios among others.
• Sky Studios – the content production arm of Sky, known for its state-of-the-art film and TV studio facility at Elstree.
• Working Title Films – one of Britain’s most successful film production companies, behind a string of internationally acclaimed hits and a key bridge between UK cinema and Hollywood studios.

ICAEW’s Library & Information Service can provide information on UK and Irish participants in the film and TV industry via its wide range of company information services. This includes:

• Information on company acquisitions in the sector
• Private company transaction multiples
• Company data
• Beta values for companies and the sector
• P/E ratios for companies and the sector

For more information, please contact our enquiry team on +44 (0)20 7920 8620 or at library@icaew.com to discuss your requirements.

• Animation UK
• Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (BECTU)
• British Film Commission (BFC)
• British Film Institute (BFI)
• Children’s Media Foundation (CMF)
• Directors UK
• Equity
• Film London
• Film and TV Charity
• Producer Alliance for Cinema and Television (Pact)
• UK Screen Alliance
• Writers' Guild of Great Britain

• European Broadcasting Union
• International Federation of Film Distributors' and Publishers' Associations (FIAD)
• International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF)
• Independent Film and Television Alliance
• International Video Federation