BBC should sell TV licences to Americans who want ‘unbiased’ news: Steven Knight

The Peaky Blinders creator, 67, is an ardent supporter of the national broadcaster and said it produces “incredible stuff”.Speaking at the Royal Television Society London Convention, he said: “BBC is in my opinion, Britain’s best brand. It’s like Coca-Cola, people all over the world know it.Steven Knight championed the idea of the BBC selling licences in the US (Michael Crabtree/PA)PA Archive“Its financing is beautifully old-fashioned and it’s not modern in that way, but it works.“It produces the most incredible stuff. No-one else but BBC would’ve done Peaky.“BBC is the only broadcaster that had a good Second World War, they did great things in the Second World War, no-one else did.“I would sell BBC television licences in the States, definitely. If they want to watch iPlayer and they want to watch BBC: buy a licence.“Anybody in America who wants to get unbiased news, for example: get a BBC licence.“I always think there has always been sort of resistance to allowing the BBC to be what it could become. I think it should do that. It should use all of it.”The BBC has been contacted for comment.Knight added: ‘Anybody in America who wants to get unbiased news for example, get a BBC licence’ (Ian West/PA)PA WireAlong with Peaky Blinders, Knight wrote and directed the films Locke, Hummingbird and Serenity.He was also one of the creators of game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?Knight will also pen the script for the next James Bond film.The film continues to draw in significant speculation surrounding who will play the next spy in the franchise – especially after Amazon MGM Studios took creative control of it.