PROGRAMME makers, so we hear, have been ordered to breach the North-South divide to correct the Southern bias displayed by the BBC.

Director of Television Mark Thompson has dared to admit something politicians haven't - that people in the North and the South are treated differently on the box.

He claims that too many dramas and comedies are set down the London end of the country at the expense of the North. And this, according to research, is causing Northerners to value the BBC less than Southerners. Thompson told a meeting of corporation bosses they needed to produce more TV shows like Clocking Off and The Royle Family, and that more regional and Northern accents should be heard.

He's not the first to say this. The views he expressed surface from time to time, usually when the BBC is asking for extra money. Remember the fuss when Huw Edwards was promoted to reading the main BBC news. Unfortunately this was followed closely by stories that viewers were turned off by his Welsh accent.

Of course, what the BBC means by the North isn't the North-East but usually Birmingham and Manchester, where they have production bases. The North-East is still left out in the cold which is hardly surprising as the BBC carves up the nation into very odd regions. BBC North extends into Lincolnshire, which few outside the BBC would class as Northern.

London-based programme-makers should get out of the capital more, suggests Thompson, and reflect what's happening in other parts of the country.

A corporation spokesman said, in the light of his comments, that the BBC "is about making sure we're honestly representative of every element of our audience". All this seemed strangely familiar when I read the reports. A trawl of The Northern Echo library revealed a story I wrote in 1994 in which the BBC announced an extra £75m to give programmes a more regional flavour after complaints from viewers and listeners about London and South-East bias. Of course, the BBC's concern had nothing to do with the fact that its licence was up for renewal.

Seven years later Thompson raises the issue again so we must draw the conclusion that the previous initiative came to nothing. There's also a feeling that he's ill-informed on the subject. Doesn't he remember series such as Spender, Byker Grove, When The Boat Comes In, The Likely Lads and Our Friends In The North - all of which were set in the North-East. Then, if we include Yorkshire, there's All Creatures Great And Small and The Last Of The Summer Wine.

There have been failures as well as successes. Drama series Harry began filming in Darlington with great expectations for the drama about a reporter (played by Michael Elphick) working in the area but failed to fulfil that promise, critically or in the ratings. And Badger, in which Jerome Flynn played a wildlife detective in Northumbria, was axed after two less-than-impressive series.

Programmes don't have to be set in the region to have a North-East flavour. Members of the Geordie Mafia, actors from the area, work all over the country. There was a time, over on ITV, when Coronation Street seemed populated entirely by actors from the North-East. Perhaps we can expect an influx of Geordie accented-residents in Walford to up the Northern appeal of BBC1's EastEnders.

There are plenty of independent producers in this region to provide material should the BBC venture out of its White City ivory tower. At present, programme-making at the BBC Newcastle's production base, dubbed the Pink Palace because of its colourful exterior, is limited to nightly regional news magazine Look North and local documentary series. Even the children's network shows produced there after it first opened in 1988 have gone now.

At least one North-East actor is trying to bring production back to the region where he was born - Robson Green. Unfortunately for the Beeb, he's doing it on ITV. Through his Newcastle-based Coastal Productions, his aim is to make more TV series up here. Close And True was the first, clsoely followed by his new series Take Me which is due for screening soon.

Jimmy Nail did his bit to promote Tyneside with Spender, shot on location there, and he's now one of the prime movers behind reviving Auf Wiedersehen Pet which will switch from ITV to the BBC for the return.

At least some people retain a sense of humour over the North-South divide. I make no apologies for repeating a Victoria Wood-penned sketch, in which a Southern-voiced announcer declared: "Before our next programme, here is a message for our viewers in the North. We're so sorry."

Published: Friday, April 13th