Well done, Edinburgh. Unaccustomed as this Glaswegian is to tipping her hat to the capital, I must hand it to you. I’ve had a week of struggling through festival crowds with a mobile office on my back, and I’m ready for a long lie down in a darkened room. Wake me in February 2027, thanks.
How do the people of Edinburgh do it? With so many festivals at the same time, it must be tempting to offload one of them. One that doesn’t cater to the public, and only attracts attention when some starry presence - such as Emily Maitlis, Rupert Murdoch, David Attenborough, Louis Theroux - jets in to give a lecture.
We’re talking about the Edinburgh TV Festival, or as it will be known from next year, the TV Festival. After an open bidding process, The TV Foundation, organisers of the week-long event, have decided that it will be cheaper - especially for accommodation - and easier all round to go to Manchester.
There doesn’t appear to be much love lost between the TV Festival and Screen Scotland, the Scottish Government agency, with the latter describing its soon-to-be ex-partner as “an event run from an office in London”. Among the industry in Scotland, the TV Festival has a reputation for attracting what the late AA Gill used to call “Tristrams”, privileged Oxbridge meeja types straight off the train from King’s Cross. Wherever the TV Festival sets up camp - usually in the Edinburgh International Conference Centre - immediately becomes the UK capital of black-rimmed spectacles and £400 trainers.
For all those reasons and a few more, there has not been a fuss over the loss of the TV Festival after 50 years. Odd, really, because if such a relocation happened in any other industry there would be uproar. It’s as if the Scottish Government has said to itself, “Oh, it’s just telly. What does it matter?”
It matters hugely, both politically and financially.
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Politically because Andy Burnham, who campaigned to get the TV Festival when he was Mayor of Manchester, is now, as Prime Minister, closely associated with Edinburgh’s loss. That won’t be forgotten by opposition parties. His Make the North Great Again approach is already starting to raise a few hackles elsewhere in the UK.
It matters financially because the media is big business and being close to decision-makers is vital. Glasgow is still home to the BBC in Scotland, STV, and a collection of small but doughty independent production companies. While the set-up remains impressive, MediaCity in Salford seems to grow bigger by the day. The St John’s creative district, a large part of Manchester’s winning bid, has a buzz about it.
Scotland is not giving up that easy, though. It is thought the money that went to the TV Festival in Edinburgh will stay here, and closer links will be established with the Festival proper.
So no, it isn’t the end of the world to see the Edinburgh TV Festival ship out. The TV industry in Scotland has far bigger things to worry about than the loss of a one-week-long event each year: its very future, for one.
Next Monday, August 31, will see the final episode of River City after 24 years on air. Viewers have been promised an explosive end featuring an escaped convict, a cornered gangster (Lenny “99 Lives” Murdoch), and a surprise proposal. Just another night in Shieldinch, but it will be our last. Again, one can only imagine the outcry if it was EastEnders going the way of River City. A nation is not a nation, after all, without its own soap opera and football team.
After the grand denouement - my money is on aliens landing in Montego Street, meeting a couple of the locals, and getting the hell out of Dodge as fast as their boosters can take them - there is a farewell documentary. River City: The Last Take will hear from “devoted fans”, one of whom should surely ask BBC Scotland why it is so keen to see the back of the programme. The soap began with the best intentions of being a nursery for talent behind and in front of the camera, and for many years it was. Where will trainees go now? Manchester?
It is hard not to conclude that River City fell out of favour because it was a working class soap in a middle class BBC Scotland. Its face did not fit in the new shiny age of single series with an eye on UK-wide consumption. So now BBC Scotland is pinning its hopes on three flagship dramas - one about lawyers, the others featuring gang violence. So no clichés there then. Investing £95 million in Scottish drama between 2026 and 2028 is a massive gamble. We know Counsels will air this year, but has gone quiet on the Grams and the Young Team fronts.
Looming over everything at Pacific Quay are the threatened job cuts and the rumoured pulling of the plug on the BBC Scotland channel. If or when that happens it will make the loss of the Edinburgh TV Festival seem like a dropped chip. It is costing £42 million per year to run a channel that reaches 619,000 people weekly, but when it goes it will be a severe blow. And if you think the millions saved will be staying in Scotland you’ve been watching too many Balamory repeats.
Both BBC Scotland and STV do not have their troubles to seek at the moment. When highly skilled staff should be bringing in more work they are caught up in the business of simply surviving and hanging on to their jobs. The return of Celebrity Traitors is a reminder of how much the right production can bring to an area, but the plum jobs are still going predominantly to London-based staff.
It’s the kind of topic that would be ideal talking shop material at any TV festival. Anyone got the number of a good one?
Alison Rowat is The Herald's TV Writer. Before writing about film and television, Alison was a lead writer, foreign editor, and award-winning columnist. She has extensive experience in television and radio as a programme maker and commentator, and has lectured on broadcast news and current affairs journalism
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