Barrowman, Kay, Tate: 'Vote to save BBC'

More than 40 top British performers have reportedly signed a letter calling for voters to save the BBC on polling day.

The plea denounces plans to cut the licence fee and claims that opposition politicians have a "cavalier attitude towards the BBC's independence".

Peter Kay, John Barrowman, Peter Capaldi and Romola Garai are among those who backed the call, as are Catherine Tate, Meera Syal, Stephen Merchant, Terry Jones, Sam West, Hugh Bonneville and Harriet Walter.

According to The Observer, the letter highlights an explicit threat to disband the BBC's governing body, the BBC Trust, by the Conservative shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt and calls the corporation the "most important cultural organisation in Britain and an indispensable part of our society".

While the Conservatives don't mention any specific plan to freeze the licence fee, they have pledged to give the National Audit Office access to its accounts for the first time. The BBC's supporters fear this proposed scrutiny would amount to direct government control.

The Labour manifesto says the current government is determined to "maintain the independence of the BBC… the most admired and trusted broadcaster in the world" while the Lib Dem manifesto says the party plans to keep the BBC "strong, free from interference and securely funded".

The protest letter, also signed by Sir Richard Eyre, Stephen Frears, Harry Enfield, Charlie Higson, Eddie Izzard, Robert Webb, Stephen Mangan, Sanjeev Bhaskar and Jo Brand, urges voters to think about the consequences "for this cherished part of our national life".