The BBC is significantly increasing its focus on British Sign Language (BSL) content, marked by the return of the long-running programme See Hear this April. This initiative includes new series led by deaf talent and greater representation across existing BBC shows.
Here’s the Lowdown: See Hear, the BBC’s key programme for the Deaf community, is relaunching with a week of episodes from April 7th to 11th, broadcasting from Newcastle. Alongside this, two major new series are launching: Rose Ayling-Ellis: Old Hands, New Tricks, where the actress teaches BSL to retirees, and Reunion, a bilingual thriller filmed in Sheffield starring Matthew Gurney, Lara Peake, Anne-Marie Duff, Eddie Marsan, and Rose Ayling-Ellis.
What This Means Now: This represents a deliberate push for enhanced deaf visibility and authentic BSL portrayal. The BBC is actively involving deaf creatives in production roles on these new shows. Furthermore, popular programmes like Sort Your Life Out, Pointless, Morning Live, and Make it at Market will feature deaf contributors and BSL content in the coming weeks. A Snapchat filter teaching BSL finger-spelling has also been introduced.
The Bigger Picture: This increased BSL focus is part of the BBC’s wider strategy for accessibility and authentic representation. Building on the impact of deaf participants in shows like Strictly Come Dancing (Tasha Ghouri) and Gladiators (Fury), the broadcaster aims to embed deaf stories and perspectives more deeply across its output. The commitment extends to expanding live signed content and the dedicated BSL category on BBC iPlayer, which now lists over 750 programmes.
