festival history
Established in 1976, the Edinburgh TV Festival takes place every August and is the home of independent debate in TV.
Festival Milestones
We are now in our 47th year and have maintained our industry-wide reputation for being the must-attend event in the TV calendar.
Our Festival is programmed both by and for the TV industry. Our events always have been and always will be inclusive and accessible. If you work in TV or have aspirations to do so, you have a place at the Festival.
First Edinburgh TV Festival (1976)
Before our first Festival, there was no event like it. We gave TV professionals an opportunity to gather, and almost five decades later we’re still bringing the TV industry together.
Inaugural Alternative MacTaggart (1997)
Since its launch, this annual keynote gives a unique platform to a media visionary to help shape debate in the global television industry from an alternative perspective.
Launch of The TV Foundation (2019)
Since 1990, we’ve supported industry-leading, free-to-access career development initiatives. In 2019, our charity was relaunched as The TV Foundation.Â
The James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture
The James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture is the Edinburgh TV Festival’s keynote address and has formed the centrepiece of the Festival since 1976.
The lecture was named in honour of the writer, producer and director who died in 1974, and it has fast established itself as a platform for important policy announcements and agenda-setting speeches.
In the past, the MacTaggart lecture has been delivered by politicians, leading authors, playwrights, journalists, media titans, and actors, with recent MacTaggart speakers including Emily Maitlis, Jack Thorne, David Olusoga OBE, Dorothy Byrne, Michaela Coel, Jon Snow, Armando Iannucci and Liz Murdoch.
Almost 50 Years of Provocative talks from high-calibre speakers
Our lectures, masterclasses, and debates feature some of the most-respected voices in the industry. The sessions in our programme are led by high-calibre speakers that are renowned for being provocative, informative, and entertaining.
Past speakers include Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch, Ricky Gervais, Louis Theroux, Charlie Brooker, Hugh Grant, Joanna Lumley, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Michaela Coel, and Whoopi Goldberg, alongside senior figures from companies including ABC, HBO, NBC, Showtime, Amazon, and Netflix.
Nurturing talent For more than three decades
The Festival has grown to become a charitable organisation with a mission to identify and nurture the next generation of talent, whatever their background. Over the last 30 years we’ve supported more than 4,000 people to start or develop a career in TV.
The Festival runs three talent schemes. Established in 1990 as TVYP (Television & Young People), The Network gives brand new entrants a vital first step into the TV and digital industries. Ones to Watch, which launched in 1994 as Fast Track, supports mid-career TV professionals on their route to becoming industry leaders.Â
Our newest scheme, run since 2018 in conjunction with the AHRC, is TV PhD – aimed at doctoral students who are interested in working in, or with, the television industry. All three schemes benefit from fully funded places at the Festival, which include tailored workshops, masterclasses and networking. Year-round mentoring, training, and events are also offered.
The Festival also runs other events throughout the year with the aim of engaging and inspiring the TV industry. These range from AHTV, our cross-discipline academic conference, to our conversation-starting Climate Content Summit.
