The James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture is the Edinburgh International Televisions Festival’s keynote address. The lecture was named in honour of the writer, producer and director who died in 1974, and has fast established itself as a platform for important policy announcements and agenda-setting speeches.
Launched in 1997, The Alternative MacTaggart gives a unique platform to a media visionary to help shape debate in the global television industry from an alternative perspective. In the past it has been delivered by politicians, leading authors, playwrights, journalists, media titans and actors, including Jerry Springer, Jeremy Corbyn, Nicola Sturgeon, Mary Portas, Charlie Brooker, Professor Brian Cox, Al Gore, Armando Iannucci, Sharon Horgan and Russell Brand.
Edinburgh has become the only media event to attend to find top industry figures all in one place. Take a look at a selection of the top CEO’s, company Presidents and Managing Directors that have attended the Festival.
The Festival has had the pleasure of hosting some of the best on-screen TV talent, from presenters Louis Theroux, Lauren Laverne, Ant and Dec, and Edith Bowman, actors, Hugh Laurie, Martin Freeman, Sheridan Smith, and Anna Friel, and comedians such as Frankie Boyle, Nish Kumar and Katherine Ryan.
We attract the most inspirational creatives, such as leading writers Russell T Davies, James Graham, Sally Wainwright, Julie Plec, Charlie Brooker and Armando Iannucci, who take us behind the scenes of some of the most popular and award-winning series.