Edinburgh launches new media event after final TV Festival ends

Gadd pointed out that Fleabag, Taskmaster, Six the Musical, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Stomp, Flight of the Conchords, Garth Merengue, Alan Partridge, Mr Bean, The League of Gentlemen, Jerry Springer the Opera, Operation Mincemeat, The Mighty Boosh and Black Watch all began there.

“This is so much more than a festival,” he said. “It’s the cultural backbone of the whole country, the world even, and we must protect it at all costs so everyone who dares to step out their front door and call themselves an artist can be given the same opportunity that I was.”

The TV festival began as the Edinburgh Television Drama festival in 1976 – a spin-off from the city’s international film festival – founded by its director Linda Myles and Gus MacDonald, a former Granada TV executive.

Myles, the first woman to direct a major film festival was keen to spark ideas and debate about a rapidly changing industry.

Key to its success was its timing in the final week of the world’s largest arts festival which allowed delegates to network, while also “shopping” the city for fresh ideas, talent and shows.

As well as Baby Reindeer, Fleabag was first performed as a theatre show before being developed by the BBC, as was Hannah Gadsby’s show Nanette in 2017 before being developed by Netflix.

The various comedy awards handed out in the final week, also offer a shortlist for those attending the TV festival.