The BBC will demand Russian broadcasters pull programmes such as Doctor Who and the local spin-off of Strictly Come Dancing from the airwaves, as the corporation joins a growing cultural boycott by withdrawing rights to its shows.
Executives, including Tim Davie, the director-general, have decided that the corporation’s commercial arm – BBC Studios – will no longer sell broadcast rights for its programmes in Russia.
Britain’s public broadcaster will also demand that Russian TV networks do not transmit shows whose rights have already been bought from the BBC, including with Sir David Attenborough’s The Green Planet, Doctor Who, and the Russian version of Strictly Come Dancing (Tantsy So Zvyozdami).
While there is no guarantee any broadcaster will comply with the BBC’s demands, it is thought executives were unanimous in wishing to make a statement on the war in Ukraine, regardless of commercial arrangements.
It is understood there was no political pressure applied to the corporation, which released a statement saying: “In common with other media organisations, we have been monitoring events closely”.
It added: “The BBC’s executive team … decided to stop all content licensing to Russian customers.”
The decision affects state-owned and Kremlin aligned channels like Russia 1, which holds the rights to Tantsy So Zvyozdami. The current series is nearing its finale.
The Green Planet currently airs on commercial TV channel Friday!, which is ultimately owned by Russian energy company Gazprom, which is facing financial pressure from international sanctions.
The BBC’s decision has added to a growing cultural boycott of Russia, which in the UK has already seen the Royal Opera House cancel shows featuring Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet.
This boycott has also been stepped up in France, with Cannes Film Festival – the nexus of Riviera glamour often sought out by the Russian elite – barring delegates with ties to Vladimir Putin’s regime.
A statement from the festival said: “Unless the war of assault ends in conditions that will satisfy the Ukrainian people, it has been decided that we will not welcome official Russian delegations nor accept the presence of anyone linked to the Russian government.”
Cannes has however praised filmmakers like Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov, who was last year unable to show his film Petrov’s Flu in the Riviera due to him being under a travel ban for a dubious conviction condemned by the Human Rights Watch.
The Film Festival statement continued: “We would like to salute the courage of all those in Russia who have taken risks to protest against the assault and invasion of Ukraine.”
