Intergenerational divides as a mechanism of class inequality in UK television drama: From age-segmented commissioning to networked gatekeeping

In this article, we theorise generation as a structuring mechanism of class inequality in UK television drama. Drawing on 64 interviews across two anonymised case studies (a long-running BBC drama and a Channel 4 multi-episode drama) and supplementary industry interviews, we show how broadcast-era stability and platform-era precarity produce distinct, classed dispositions towards skill, authority and cultural value. We argue that audience-age segmentation operates as an institutional device that allocates commissioning resources and evaluative attention, converting cohort socialisations into structural advantage for the middle classes. Extending Mannheim and Bourdieu to the production field, and anchored in classic production studies, we identify three interlocking mechanisms across macro/meso/micro levels: (1) the erosion of shared cultural repertoires, (2) the transformation of hierarchy from finite rite of passage to enduring class filter and (3) the shift from institutional mentorship to networked gatekeeping. We reframe ‘generational tensions’ as historically contingent misrecognitions of structural change, with consequences for workforce diversity and for the civic remit of public service broadcasting drama. We conclude by outlining policy-relevant implications related to secure paid entry roles, formalised mentorship, transparent hiring and plural metrics for cultural literacy, and argue that the framework is analytically portable to other creative sectors and public service broadcasting/streaming contexts internationally.