UK production spend fell in the first half of 2026. UK-made films went the other way
Combined film and high-end TV spend dropped by 15.6% on the year, according to BFI figures reported in August. Spend on domestic UK features rose 20%, and that end of the market counts every build day.
Film and high-end TV productions spent £2.7bn in the UK in the first half of 2026, down 15.6% from £3.2bn in the same six months of 2025. The figures are the BFI's, reported on 11 and 12 August by Prolific North and Screen Global Production. We couldn't open the BFI's own release page, so treat them as the BFI's numbers as two trade titles reported them.
It follows a much stronger 2025. The BFI's figures for 2025, published on 5 February, put combined spend at £6.8bn, up 22%, with film at £2.8bn, the highest on record according to Screen Daily. Inward investment made up 85% of the total.
Where the money fell away
- High-end TV spent £1.7bn, down 19% from £2.1bn, across 82 programmes, the same number as a year earlier. Inward investment accounted for £1.3bn of it, from 39 programmes.
- Film spent £1.0bn, down 6%, even though starts rose from 66 to 73.
- Inward investment in film was £905m from 26 films, down 9% from £999m.
The line that went up
Domestic UK films spent £75m in the first half, from 35 films, up 20% from £62m. Co-productions rose 35% to £47m from 12 films.
By value that is small next to the inward numbers. By count it is not: domestic films were 35 of the 73 starts. £75m across 35 films works out at a little over £2m of UK spend per film. At that level a producer sees every build day and every lost location day in the budget.
The credit independent films can claim
The Independent Film Tax Credit pays 53% gross, 39.75% net, on up to £15m of qualifying expenditure, against 34% gross for the standard relief. A film qualifies if its total core expenditure does not exceed £23.5m and principal photography began on or after 1 April 2024. HMRC has accepted claims since 1 April 2025. The film needs a British director or writer, or one ordinarily resident in the UK, or it must be an official UK co-production.
The VFX uplift, 39% gross on UK VFX costs incurred from 1 January 2025, cannot be combined with it. We found no change to either rate announced in 2026. What counts as qualifying expenditure on your own film is a question for your accountant, not for us.
What a tight budget can build in a barn
Interiors are where a regional stage with its own construction team earns its place in a tight budget. Our clearest example is the cottage interior built on the White Space cove for a Channel 4 drama directed by Tim Pope. It took five days to build and dress with a six-person crew. It was lit from the 8-bar grid 4.5m above the floor, so nothing the camera could see stood on the set floor, and the blackout was drawn round the build so the barn outside its walls disappeared. The case study has the detail.
What we'd pass on to the next production from that job:
- Book the build days with the shoot days. Five days of construction is normal for an interior with dressed walls.
- Send the art department drawings early. Our carpenters can pre-build flats in the workshop twenty metres from the stage.
- Settle the colour of the cove behind any opening before the build. A repaint needs a day to cure.
What it costs
The White Space is £295+VAT for a half day and £395+VAT for a full day, with the house lighting and grip included: a 5.3m by 7.1m floor, 4.5m to the grid, 42 channels of dimming and a 360-degree blackout that takes about twenty minutes to draw. Small set builds start from £600+VAT, and anything larger is quoted with the stage as one number. Crew is booked on top: a gaffer from £450+VAT a day, a director of photography from £575+VAT. The drama page covers the rest, and the barn is about two hours from London by road off-peak.
If you're costing an independent feature with interiors that could be built rather than found, send us the drawings and we'll quote the build and the stage days together.
Sources
- BFI, Official BFI statistics 2025, 5 February 2026
- Screen Daily, UK film production spend hit £2.8bn in 2025, highest on record, checked 28 September 2026
- Screen Global Production, Total UK feature production spend drops 6% in first half of 2026, 12 August 2026
- Prolific North, BFI reports H1 2026 figures for UK film and high-end TV production spend, 11 August 2026
- UK Parliament, Written statement HCWS115, Independent Film Tax Credit, 9 October 2024
- HMRC, Creative Industries Expenditure Credit Manual CREC021120, updated 9 April 2026
- BFI, BFI welcomes enhanced VFX tax credit for UK film and high-end television productions, 30 October 2024
- UK Screen Alliance, UK visual effects tax relief uplift comes into effect on New Year's Day, 1 January 2025
- UK Screen Alliance, UK film and high-end TV tax incentives, checked 28 September 2026
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The picture at the top of this article is an illustration generated to show the set-up. It is not a photograph of a client or of a real job.
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