How BBC hit McMafia won a £2.4million tax windfall
Flagship BBC drama McMafia received a secret £2.4 million taxpayer subsidy, it can be revealed.
The series, which starred James Norton, below, as the son of an exiled Russian oligarch living in london, was a critical success and is to be shown around the world.
But accounts filed just before its release show how the filming cost a little more than £ 18 million and £2.4 million will come in the form of a huge tax let-off.
Details are revealed in documents for Cpl godman ltd — a subsidiary of Cuba pictures, which set up godman to make McMafia after it was commissioned by the BBC.
The company is named after the surname of star James Norton’s character alex godman in the eight-part programme, and was originally also called McMafia.
The paperwork shows the company made a loss of £2.38 million and that it will receive high- end tax relief of exactly the same amount to cover the shortfall.
it also confirms: ‘Turnover relates to the production of the television series entitled McMafia.’ The high- end tax credits for film were set up by former Chancellor george Osborne to encourage commercial producers to film in Britain. Much of McMafia is filmed outside the UK, with locations in Russia, Mumbai, Qatar and Croatia. a BBC source said the Corporation had agreed to license the Cuba pictures production in the UK and was not a beneficiary of the tax break. however Variety magazine reported that BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the Corporation, was acting as distributor for the film around the world, meaning the BBC would earn significant commissions. it was bought by amazon prime to be shown in 200 countries and deals are to be struck to sell it elsewhere around the world including China. a separate deal was struck for the U.s. a spokesman for BBC Worldwide said: ‘like many premium British dramas, the financing of Cuba pictures’ McMafia includes an element of production tax credit — as is entirely standard, and wholly legitimate —and exactly what the credit was set up for.’