In a foul-mouthed tirade written on his blog, the actor-turned-author slammed the Beeb's relocation to MediaCity.
Fry berated the BBC for its approach to 'regionalism' – saying Salford did not represent the whole of the north.
He wrote: “Where does one begin with the BBC’s 'regionalism'?
“They destroy local radio but move to Salford to 'appease' the North.
“As if 'the North' is one place!
“Do they think the citizens of Sunderland and Leeds are cheering because there’s a new BBC media centre in Salford?
“I should think even Mancunians are p****d off by it, let alone Geordies or Lakelanders.
“In-****ing-sane”
Fry also blasted the corporation for moving the sport department out of the capital just before London hosts the 2012 Olympic Games, branding it 'absurd'.
He said: “This is a Britain where metro-hatred and provincial ****-licking has led to such fatuous absurdities as the farcical moving of the entire BBC sports department to Salford months before the Olympic Games come to London.
“Read that back twice and forbear to weep, groan, roar or wet yourself laughing.”
Fry is the latest celebrity to attack the move from London to Salford.
In July, Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson branded the city a 'small suburb' and saying he would quit rather than relocate.
He described Salford 'a small suburb with a Starbucks and a canal with ducks on it' and said that he would resign if the motoring programme was moved north.
Clarkson - who reportedly receives a £2m-a-year salary from the BBC – claimed the decision to move five departments to brand new buildings at Salford Quays was based on politics, saying 'it was a box that has been ticked'. Tweet
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Don't move here Mr Fry get a job in M & S on Oxford St Londpn see what your money is like then..
I'm surprised. I always thought Fry too intelligent for him to rant like this. Whilst he's right in that Salford doesn't represent "the North" as a whole, there is also more to England, let alone the UK, than London.
Well his views are Quite Interesting.
well London is not the whole of the UK - it's not even all of the south east. And Shepards bush is not even the whole of London. But perhaps if Fry loves London so much he should suggest that the BBC close its regional TV centre in his area of East Anglia because Norwich doesn't represent the whole region, not even Ipswich or Kings Lynn. Pratt.
He makes fair points, in particular re the Olympics. He's entitled to his opinion and at least he wasn't rude about the locals. But, as already pointed out, London does not represent the British, or does that B in BBC mean something else these days?
London certainly doesn't represent the South, Pompous bigot! Fry's gone down in my estimations, for a very intelligent man, he needs to control himself a bit more.
He just loves himself, doesn't he? This man is his own standing ovation. No one has a right to be as self-satisfied and smug as this person who modestly describes himself as a 'national treasure.' It just goes to show the British still like nothing more than a chinless wonder with a posh accent to tell them what they should think.
How precious Mr.Fry is: beating his chest in defence of all those northern people over-looked for residing outside Salford. Stephen is a gigantic "luvvie", who has spent his entire career enjoying all the benefits of a London-centric, media, bias.
what's the world coming to when the MEN prints the word of an ex-con who's ancestors were immigrants! Mr Fry if you don't like this country or its institutions you could always return to your motherland and rip off credit cards there!
Well, the BBC's existing buildings are knackered, whether it be Oxford Road or BBC TV Centre in Shepherd's Bush.
They needed a new building and wanted it to be built somewhere other than London. In 'the north' was preferable because it does 'tick a box'. But what's wrong with that? Nobody is meant to be cheering, it just happens to be in Salford because the was cheap land and existing infrastructure.
London has BBC TV Centre, White City and Radio House. Salford has Media City.
What's the big deal? The only issue is people who work down south suddenly having to move. That's individual's problem, not a result of a dastardly agenda.
As for Stephen Fry, he spent most of his early career working at Granada.
Yes, the olympics are in London, but building a new sports department in London for one event taking place over just 4 weeks would be shortsighted.
Stephen Fry, born Hampstead, speaks French, prefers London. No surprises there. Jeremy Clarkson, born Doncaster, completely talent-less Yawkshire bigot. Seriously, who cares what he thinks. The way media is set up these days it wouldn't make any difference if the BBC was located in any major city. Oh, and there are Olympic events taking place in the North West as well as other parts of the Great Britain.
He is the worst sort of self important, puffed up, London centric luvvie. He is so self absorbed that he sees the moving of departments that he has no dealings with as a personal affront. He obviously thinks that all the nation's licence fees should by right be spent on providing jobs solely for him and his luvvie friends in West London. He makes me sick, well actually no more than he did before his rant.
Reading the full piece I didn't see it as much of rant. I don't agree with him that there is any metro-hatred or provincial favoritism if anything its fairly apparent that London gets more than its fair share. It seemed to me more of a love letter to the less well known aspects of London.
However, how are other cities suppose to grow if London hoards all the assets?
It is worth reading the full article but then its also worth reading Alex Connock's speech about regional business.
If anything, more aspects of the BBC should be around the UK, the new Wembley stadium didn't need to be in London and i'd like to see more art exhibits venture outside of the capital.
Stay in london fry, don’t come up north, you may like it.
His supposed intelligence that people foolishly look up to, lets him get way with an awful lot of opinionated rubbish he comes out with. I can't stand him. I don't know why anyone follows his dull egotism on twitter.
And besides,as a Mancunian, I'm not p****d off, that major chunks of the BBC are now in the proposed constituency of Manchester Central. Lol.
Like all Quizmasters, Stephen Fry, Angus Deayton, Bambi Gascoyne, it's easy to look clever when you've got the answer sheet in front of you.
Suspect he has been asked to attend an event at MediaCity Salford that clashes with a prior dinner invitation to Langhams London.
Pompus twit.........terer.
Well dose this not tell everyone that there is a NORTH SOUTH DEVIDE, with southern jessies not wanting to come NORTH, as for Clarkson the M.E.N would not print my thoughts on him, Mr Fry has really suprised me with his comments and way they have been said, and before anyone has a go at me i lived down south for some years they are the most unfriendly people i have ever meet.
Mr Fry should simply accept that the ways of the BBC are beyond his understanding. He shouldn't question its regional policy any more than he questions why the BBC pays vast amounts of money to minor talents like him in return for appearing in mediocre TV programmes.
Now I thought that Mr Fry was a bookworm who read everything, he appears to have totally missed the bit about the BBC Olympics broadcast department is not coming north but staying in London. Perhaps he feels that the Salford people can not apreciate his humour and his wit, well not anymore I will cross his books off my chrimbo list and look for something more entertaining instead.
2 hours by train what's the problem Stephen I thought you liked travel if you actually paid attention to the country's that you visited whilst funded by the taxpayer you might realise that we are a tiny space compared to most other country's you claim to respect progress and change.until it affects you
Well in truth it is only a small part of a broader text on the hidden delights of the sprawling metropolis that is The United States of London. But hey, as is typical of an increasingly lazy press that relies on sensationalising the trivial rather than good old fashioned helpful and informative journalism, it doesn't really surprise that some hack has taken an inflammatory section of the blog just to provoke a reaction. That said, taking Mr. Fry's comments in isolation, he does have a point in some respects. What they have spent in public money to move here borders on reckless embezzlement. The main issue with the BBC over the years is its anodyne and slightly racist attitude to employment and the commissioning of creative talent. It's more important that that changes rather than the astonishingly expensive political symbol of moving whole departments. I would personally prefer if they'd have moved to America next door to HBO and then perhaps they might learn how how to make good, innovative drama again. That they have moved the sports department here a year before the Olympics really does beggar belief and confirm that this country is run by incompetent f***ing idiots. More so when you consider that they built Wembley in the capital when half the premier league is up North - a third if it being in the North West - and that only once in almost 140 years gave the top two teams in the league been from the capital. So the fact that Match if the Day is now here at least does make some sense.
Yet another overpaid Pompous Shandy swilling Southern Jessy
Stephen, you used to be funny...... I have read a couple of your books and had to warn my local library about them. Such an excellently educated man (and I went to the same university) should be able to express himself without recourse to filth. I'm sure you could cobble together the train fare to commute on the one day a week you need to spend here for any programme. As for Clarkson, well, if he will promise to get out if they move his motor programme up here..... BRING IT ON!!!!
As I gazed over towards the metropolis of Tintwistle yesterday whist walking on the moors, I reflected once again on the amazing fact that more people live within 35 miles of Tintwistle than they do within 35 miles of Trafalgar Square. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it Mr Fry!
5 - 1 you Narge turkey - these aristocrats still see themselves as ruling the empire through the Beeb out of London. Come on citizens!