Last Wednesday Birmingham hosted a premiere for BBC Two's worldwide hit drama series Peaky Blinders. 

I was bursting with pride watching the hordes of fans lined the canal outside The Mailbox to catch a glimpse of the cast led by star Cillian Murphy and writer Steven Knight. For BBC Birmingham to host an event for a series that has touched the hearts of people in the Midlands really was very special. And we know that the people in our region watched the first episode last week in more numbers than anywhere else in the country. I doff my cap (minus the razors) to Peakys and its fans.

After such a special moment last week I wasn't sure how this week could compare but today we have announced a package of measures that will build on the Corporation’s existing £125m investment in Birmingham by making the city the dual base for BBC Three, with half of the team moving to be based in the city under the proposals. Another brilliant moment for the BBC in Birmingham. 

The team responsible for producing and publishing BBC Three’s daily short-form content will move here and we'll be the home of a new youth team who are set to be the main suppliers of the news content for BBC Three’s Daily Drop.

Birmingham is the youngest and most diverse city in Europe with a thriving digital start up culture so these new teams are the perfect fit for us and by investing significant extra resource in the city in this way we can help to develop the growing digital economy here too. We know there is a large pool of young creative talent in the city who we want to work with and want to work with us and BBC Birmingham will now be at the heart of producing fresh talent and innovative digital content for young audiences.

The new teams will also form part of the hub for the development and commissioning of diverse talent and programmes as announced in the BBC’s Diversity and Inclusion strategy last month. Exciting stuff.

And my team at the BBC Academy are launching a new scheme - the Birmingham Production Apprenticeship - for new off air talent from diverse backgrounds.

Over the last year we have established ourselves as the centre of excellence for recruitment, training and digital innovation for the BBC alongside the thriving production base with the drama village producing shows like Doctors and Father Brown and The Mailbox being home to The Archers, Home Front, the Asian Network and local programming with Midlands Today and BBC WM. But, I have said since I started this job 16 months ago that we wanted to do more and, if I am honest, this is even better than I could have hoped for.

Birmingham is a great city with a huge amount of potential and with today's announcement we will be dedicating even more resources, producing even more content, and creating even more opportunities for the industry and our audiences in the region. I hope you will all doff your peak(y) caps to that.

Joe Godwin is Director BBC Birmingham.

• Read the press release about the announcement on the BBC Media Centre website.

Stars of hit BBC2 Birmingham-based drama Peaky Blinders last night came home in spectacular style for the Season 3 red carpet premiere. 

The event which took place at The Everyman Cinema at the Mailbox in Birmingham, included appearances by the main man Cillian Murphy (Tommy Shelby) and Packy Lee (Johnny Dogs) as well as the writer/creator – Birmingham born Steven Knight.

Scores of fans lined the Mailbox in 1920s attire and Peaky Blinders flat caps. Here are some pictures from the night:

Bringing the Blinders home: (L-R) Jordan Bolger, Packy Lee, Cillian Murphy, Steven Knight, Gait Jansen, Harry Kirton, Stephanie Hyram and Kate Phillips

What a turn out! Scores of Peaky Blinders fans made their way to Birmingham’s Mailbox for the big premiere.

Peaky actor Packy Lee can’t resist talking a few snaps of the crowds.

Tips from Thomas Shelby? Cillian Murphy looked to have taken a tip or two from his Peaky Blinder's alter-ego, as he turned up suited and booted to the show's series three premiere in Birmingham, on Wednesday.

He even stopped to pose for some snaps with fans.

Kate Phillips 'Linda Shelby'

Jordan Bolger, 'Isiah'

Harry Kirton, 'Finn Shelby' in Peaky Blinders

Local lad Jasper Carrott turned out in a suitably period look for the screening.

Birmingham City's Jonathan Spector

Birmingham City FC goalkeeper and the Director/CEO of the club. Adam Legzdins and Panos Pavlakis.

Birmingham City Manager, Gary Rowett

As the quadri-cen­tenary of Shakespeare’s death approaches, my thoughts turn to a less well-known Midlands anniversary. To work for the BBC was my midsummer night’s dream and, 30 years ago, I wrote to Kay Alexander atMidlands Today, asking for her advice about a career in television.

She kindly arranged for me to speak to someone in personnel and, eventually, I found myself working as a Regional Station Assistant – not in Birmingham, but in Southampton.

Born in Warwickshire and weaned on BBC Midlands, I never did work at Pebble Mill. I arrived in Birmingham to run the BBC Academy and BBC Birmingham too late – it had gone.

Pebble Mill at one with the earth. But its brutalist form casts a deep shadow over the Midlands media landscape.

In the 20th century, Birmingham wasn’t just any old BBC regional centre. In 1922, it was the first and, for decades, the most important. In 2004, the BBC moved to a new city-centre site in The Mailbox, which was modern, efficient and cheaper to run.

But in 2012, as part of a rationalisation of production bases, much of Birmingham’s factual TV and radio moved again, this time to Bristol. The Mailbox was suddenly half empty and not so efficient – something that Tony Hall encountered in his second week as Director-General and that he was determined to do something about.

The West Midlands is at an economic and cultural watershed: the  Midlands Engine is revving up. HS2 will bring millions of people and billions of pounds straight into the heart of Birmingham. The likes of HSBC are relocating their UK headquarters to the city, and a new John Lewis bestrides the wonderfully ­rejuvenated New Street Station.

Confidence is high and the focus is increasingly on Birmingham’s own huge growth potential and second-city cultural status. We are looking less over our shoulders at our friends in the North and their Powerhouse.

And BBC Birmingham is in the throes of its own mini renaissance. The BBC Academy has joined Midlands Today, Radio WM, The Archers and Home Front, Father Brown and Doctors, and the Asian Network in the city.

Not long ago, The Mailbox felt like the Media Marie Celeste – now it’s full again.

Birmingham’s next media chapter is going to be about digital; our Digital Innovation Unit is beavering away on stuff for BBC Three. A new team is leading the BBC’s six-month online Bard-fest, Shakespeare Lives.

Co-curated by the BBC and the British Council, it will open the rich archives of Shakespeare to the whole world, as well as streaming performances and features for the anniversary celebrations.

And it’s not just us. New indies, such as Colette Foster’s Full Fat, are appearing, and Lenny Henry made the wonderful Danny and the Human Zoo here. He is now making the case for the West Midlands to be the place to make a real difference in terms of diversity in TV.

There’s a feeling here that Birmingham fell off the BBC’s map of Britain. But now we’re rebuilding our presence, to become the BBC that this great city and region deserve.

I’m very proud to be the BBC’s “Director of Better” for Birmingham. We’ve got the B-word back on everyone’s lips across the BBC. It brought the BBC Music Awards to the city, with more to come in 2016.

Next, our aim is to produce more BBC TV and radio programmes here in the years ahead, and I’m quietly confident that this will happen.

Joe Godwin is Director of BBC Birmingham and Director of BBC Academy

This post originally appeared on the RTS Media website. 

It's been a week full of good, old-fashioned heroism - when astronaut Tim Peake became the first Brit on the International Space Station, an event covered masterfully by our in-house BBC Science team. That countdown puts the BBC Studios launch in April into perspective, I suppose.

We’ve done lots of thinking about the future and what it might bring, but amidst all that production teams have found time to keep making gripping content - like Luther's return to BBC One just this week. It's been a year when some of the nation's favourites reinvented themselves to massive audiences - from EastEnders’ innovative live 30th anniversary episodes to the 13th series of Strictly –the final just round the corner -for my money one of the best series ever. And we produced some unforgettable live moments -  and not just from space -like Steve Backshall losing his cool at the sight of a blue whale on Big Blue Live, the historic flypast for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and Adele's return to the stage for BBC1's unforgettable special.

It’s that range that makes BBC Studios such a special thing – the ability to move effortlessly from hard-hitting to laugh-out-loud, from global fandoms to local stories, music to drama. In the end it’s a question of thinking outside the box too – and that’s what our new plans for BBC Studios should be all about as part of the BBC's commitment to the UK creative sector in Charter Renewal.

We all get trapped in boxes – they can hem us in and hamper our imagination, and we have to keep forcing ourselves out of them. The box could be a London-centric mindset – until you think about the incredible breadth of content being made by BBC teams across every part of the UK. It could be the linear broadcast box-in-the-corner-of-the-living-room – until you see the ground-breaking digital innovation bubbling up throughout our production teams. The box could even just be the office – and getting out and about, talking to the writers and producers, on set, in the mixing studios and make-up rooms, is always the best way to broaden our horizons.

With that mantra in mind, I went off for a day of exploration with my leadership team – destination: Birmingham. It's not always been the trendiest of television locations but these days there are signs of real creative revival.

Great things started at BBC Birmingham – Top Gear and The One Show for example – and big things are happening there now too. At the Drama Village we examined the marvellous Doctors, serving up a dose of daytime drama to the nation day in day out. It’s a real petri dish for talent too – working with over 800 actors a year and nurturing new writers – often from the Midlands – who go on to the likes of Land Girls and EastEnders. The global success of its stable-mate Father Brown, as well as newcomer The Coroner shows the appeal of the quintessentially British stories that BBC Studios does so well.

We also visited the BBC’s Digital Guerrillas in their base in trendy Digbeth, and heard about their own mission to think beyond the confines of traditional TV – whether it’s the inventive #ramadaninaday that got young people talking on social media about what Ramadan means to them, or the exciting interactive project for one of the BBC’s hottest upcoming dramas, Thirteen. Together with the Digital Storytelling Team in London, who are working on exciting new short form projects with BBC Three and VR work with Science we are starting to see a different way to make content and connect with the audience. You can see some more highlights from our digital year in the video below:

Mr Khan (Adil Ray) was in Birmingham yesterday (Tuesday 27 October) for the launch of the new series of BBC One comedy Citizen Khan. We've picked out some favourites pictures from the event that document his shennanigans.

Mr Khan outside the Birmingham Mailbox, the BBC's home in Birmingham.

In the afternoon Mr Khan visited the recently refurbished Birmingham New Street Train Station and went behind the scenes in the control room.

While he was there, Mr Khan also helped out with one or two station announcements.

Members of the cast arrive at the red carpet episode screening.

Mr Khan met crowds who had gathered at the red carpet.

It might have been raining, but spirits weren't dampened for a variety of media interviews on the red carpet.

Members of the cast congregate on the red carpet for a photo op.

Today BBC audiences across the country and here in the Midlands have heard the news that the BBC Music Awards are coming to the Genting Arena in Birmingham, this December.

From Black Sabbath to Duran Duran, The Streets, Jamelia and Laura Mvula, Birmingham has a rich and glorious musical history – including my personal favourite ELO.

Now One Direction and Wolverhampton star Liam Payne will be joining his band mates on stage back in the homeland as event headliners! As Director of BBC Birmingham – and a proud Midlander - I’m looking forward to welcoming Liam and the rest of 1D to the region.

This morning BBC WM 95.6’s Adrian Goldberg joined in the excitement getting some reaction from some Birmingham 1D super fans (from 1.40m in) and audiences will be able to share more of the buzz on tonight’s BBC Midlands Today live from Birmingham at 6:30pm.

The BBC has been part of Birmingham, and Birmingham part of the BBC, since 1922. The first regional radio service was broadcast from here and the first ever BBC children’s programme was broadcast from Birmingham in 1922.

And we’ve been here ever since. But one of our challenges is the perception that our commitment and our activity has diminished, and the BBC doesn’t do much in Birmingham or play its part in the City.

We do loads in Birmingham and will continue to. This year the BBC in Birmingham became the BBC’s new centre of excellence for skills, recruitment and talent development for the whole UK, with the BBC Academy and HR Division. We also have the Drama Village in SellyOak and the new Digital Innovation Unit based in Fazeley.

Some of the nation’s most-loved programmes are produced in Birmingham including Radio 4’s The Archers and Home Front and BBC One’s Doctors and Father Brown. More than 130 hours of television drama are produced a year from here and the city is also home to English Regions HQ.

By the end of 2015/16 Midlands spend will be in excess of £125m with the all the changes being made in Birmingham. This is more than 50 per cent up on where we were a couple of years ago, and we’re bringing 300 new jobs to the city.

The Music Awards coming here marks the next big moment in BBC Birmingham’s modern history and this supports our evolving story.

BBC Music is the Corporation’s strongest commitment to music in 30 years - comprising an ambitious wave of new programmes, innovative partnerships and ground-breaking music initiatives. This is designed to strengthen the BBC’s place as a world leader in music broadcasting and commissioning, and enhance the UK’s position as a global trailblazer in music creation and performance.

So I am thrilled the Awards are coming to my patch. And audiences in Midlands who agree can listen out on BBC WM 95.6 for more news about the Awards over the coming weeks, as well as a chance to win tickets.

We’ve worked hard with many of our partners in the city to bring the Music Awards to Birmingham and we’re looking forward celebrating a great year in music with audiences across the Midlands.

During the week preceding the Awards, the BBC Music team will be running outreach events across the city, encouraging and inspiring new or aspiring artists in conjunction with local partners and venues.

The events will focus on sharing expertise and advice about working in the music industry. During the day there will be a series of seminars and workshops looking at issues such as 'How To Make Money In The Music Industry', 'Women in Music' and 'The Art of Song Writing'. Each evening there will be a BBC Introducing Showcase featuring up and coming bands, acts and performers from across the city.

This will all add up to real buzz in the City and fulfil our public purposes to cater for the different regions and communities of the UK, as well as bringing those people together for shared experiences.

I'm confident the 93 year old story of the BBC in Birmingham will go from strength to strength.

Joe Godwin is Director of BBC Academy and BBC Birmingham.

• Find out more about the BBC Music Awards on the BBC Music website,including information on how to book tickets.

Lenny Henry and Kascion Franklin at the Dudley preview of Danny and the Human Zoo (credit: Stonehouse Photographic/BBC)

Lenny Henry with the Mayor and Mayoress of Dudley (credit: Stonehouse Photographic/BBC)

Published in Broadcast Magazine today, Joe Godwin writes about the BBC Academy's move to Birmingham and the continuing plan to add the BBC's centre for skills and talent to the already thriving Drama Village in the Midlands.

A story in Broadcast last week stated that BBC’s plan to transform Birmingham into a creative talent hub has been “dealt a blow” as some colleagues are not able relocate.

As Mark Twain might have said, reports of the derailment of our plans are exaggerated. In fact - wrong! We’re on track to make BBC Birmingham the BBC's centre for skills and talent when The BBC Academy moves here later this year. The result of some staff deciding they’re not able to make the move will ultimately mean more employment opportunities for people in the region. And we will have people in post by the end of the year.

Having a presence in the Midlands is really important to the BBC, so over the past year we’ve been implementing a series of initiatives which are all designed to reinvigorate our investment and activity in the area.

It’s by design that we’re moving HR specialist teams alongside the globally renowned BBC Academy as they will work in partnership in finding and nurturing future talent. This will bring real economic benefits to the city and the region to ensure BBC Birmingham becomes a strong, vibrant and sustainable base for the BBC.

Moving these additional 200 roles to Birmingham is part of a wider strategy that now has over 50 per cent of the BBC located outside of London. This is bringing us closer to our audiences and is also positive for the City’s economy. Our efforts here will also help to deliver the £1.5 billion annual savings across the BBC by 2017, allowing us to put in more money in to the programmes audiences love.

Birmingham’s already the home to plenty of BBC productions; The Archers and Home Front on R4, BBC Asian Network and specialist music programmes from BBC Radio 2 including The Organist Entertains and Listen to the Band. Our Drama Village in Selly Oak makes Father Brown which has just been broadcast on BBC One, Doctors which continues to delight audiences, as well as the third series of WPC 56, and our latest drama commission for BBC One, The Coroner. A total of 120 hours of TV drama is produced a year from BBC Birmingham.

I want to build on Birmingham’s reputation as a centre of excellence for broadcasting so I am already working with commissioners and controllers to celebrate our network TV and radio drama story more, which in turn can increase the opportunities for in house and indie commissions from Birmingham. We’re also planning to refocus the public space at our Mailbox HQ in the city centre, so that Licence Fee payers feel connected to the BBC, and see just how much the BBC is doing in the Midlands. We’ve established our Digital Innovation Unit in Fazeley, which will play a significant part in innovation for, amongst others, BBC Three.

We’re committed to the Midlands and are building on the foundations we have here. We’ve made huge strides in the past year and we’re not going to stop. Our approach is one of building a solid base, generating activity, building confidence and inspiring self-sustaining growth from that.

Joe Godwin is Director, BBC Academy and BBC Birmingham.