Preview: Edinburgh International Television Festival

It is curious to think what James MacTaggart, the Scots television writer, producer and director, would make of those prominent media figures such as Rupert Murdoch and John Birt who have stepped up to a podium each August at the Edinburgh International Television Festival and taken his name in vain. A former actor, who began his career at Radio Scotland before moving to television where he produced the celebrated BBC series The Wednesday Play, he was a vigorous opponent of the received wisdom and, as he saw it, mundanity of naturalism on television. Troy Kennedy Martin, his partner in opening up television to a more inspired  view and who went on to write the classic 1980s thriller Edge of Darkness, said of the pair’s plans: “We are going to destroy naturalism, if possible by Christmas.”

MacTaggart’s sudden death from a heart attack in 1974, at the age of 46, inspired a two-day retrospective of his work as a director at the Edinburgh Film Festival, which, in turn, prompted Gus Macdonald, then executive producer of Granada’s World in Action, to apply for funding for what he described as a “wee gabfest” with a handful of programme-makers. The MacTaggart Lecture was a cornerstone of the first Edinburgh Television Festival, held in 1977, and has remained so for the past 34 years. Of all those who have nervously cleared their throats before delivering their prescription for a better, brighter, smarter TV industry, Dennis Potter (whose drama, Moonlight on the Highway, MacTaggart directed in 1969) would perhaps have been the Scot’s favourite.

Criticising John Birt and Marmaduke Hussey, then director general and chairman of the BBC Trust, Potter famously declared: “You cannot make a pair of croak-voiced Daleks appear benevolent even if you dress one of them in an Armani suit and call the other Marmaduke.”

Tomorrow it will be Elisabeth Murdoch’s turn to deliver the lecture, the third Murdoch after her father and brother, James, to take to the stage, and given the family’s fortunes during the past year, it will be interesting to hear what she has to say. Murdoch is the founder of Shine Productions and will be only the fourth woman in the history of the event to give the lecture, and the first in 17 years. As advisory chair of the EITF this year, it was Kenton Allen, the chief executive of Big Talk Productions, which makes sitcoms such as Spaced and Black Books and feature films like Hot Fuzz, who extended the invitation.

“I am proud to work in an industry that does not have a glass ceiling and which has lots and lots of very talented women in positions of power, so far be it from me to diss my predecessors. But [the lack of women delivering the MacTaggart] is a wrong that we needed to right,” he said. “Obviously, there has been quite a lot of big media stories close to her that she may or may not speak about – I think she probably will address them – but first and foremost she is a brilliant creative leader, and one of the themes of this year’s festival is creative leadership and how to marry art and commerce.

“She will speak brilliantly about that, as she has grown her business from nothing to being a very, very big producer over ten years. There is a lot of wisdom to be gleaned from what Liz can tell us. She will do it in a warm and witty and interesting way. She is not another suit – and that has got to be refreshing.”

The television festival has grown in size and stature over the past 35 years, but critics say it has been overrun by suits. What started as a place where programme- makers would be allowed to, as Macdonald said at the time, “speak freely because their bosses wouldn’t be there”, is now attended by executives at the highest level but where they are all expected to take it on the chin.

This year’s event will also see the appearance of Alex Salmond, who on Friday will give a speech setting out his vision for television in an independent Scotland and afterwards take part in an interview. How the BBC can be dismantled to suit an independent Scotland will be addressed, as well as why the disappearance of EastEnders from the screens could surely sink the Yes vote.

As Kenton Allen explained: “The point of the session is to unpack what Scottish media would look like, and I think it is the first opportunity we have had to hear from the First Minister what his vision of that is, and for people who are worried about it to raise their concerns for him. I think it will be fascinating to hear from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, what his vision for broadcasting is in an independent Scotland.”

The current fortunes of television in Scotland is in the eye of the beholder. The arrival of Waterloo Road has given a shot in the arm to the industrial side, providing work for extras, technicians and directors. But it will do nothing to reflect Scotland to the rest of the UK. In fact, for the first time in decades, there is almost no returning drama, originating from Scotland and broadcast on the UK network. Taggart, Rebus, Monarch of the Glen, 2,000 Acres of Sky and Hamish MacBeth have all gone. Case Histories, the BBC detective series set in Edinburgh, has just been recommissioned for a second series, but will there be a third?

However, one of the most prominent figures in network drama is a Scot. Steven Moffat will be attending the festival to preview an episode from the next season of Doctor Who, on which he is chief writer and executive producer – the “show runner”, in industry jargon – as well as leading a masterclass on the biggest hit in recent years, Sherlock, which he co-wrote.

The genesis of Channel 4’s drama, Homeland, which started as an Israeli drama called Prisoners of War, will be dissected by Gideon Raff and AviNir, the Israeli writers behind the original series. Frank Spotnitz, who worked as a writer and producer on The X Files will also be there to discuss his new thriller, Hunted, made for British television.

One of the most eagerly awaited debates will focus on the problems faced by the new incoming director general of the BBC, George Entwistle, who many in the industry think will have to find a way to prepare the BBC for a life after the licence fee, with few believing the current system can be sustained much further than one more ten-year extension.

Channel 4 will also come under the microscope in an event pegged to its 30th anniversary which takes place in November. Still a Rebel at 30? will see Michael Jackson, the former chief executive of the station, challenge the incumbent, David Abraham, in a debate about what exactly Channel 4 now stands for.

Among the bars of the George Hotel, a popular hang-out for delegates, there will also be a collective sigh of relief that television is in such rude health. A recent report by Ofcom said that the average person watches four hours of television a day. A decade ago, the collective Cassandras of the industry predicted only doom, with the old-fashioned “lean back” media of television all set to be wiped out by the new modern “lean forward” media of laptops and iPads.

The opposite has turned out to be the case; while iPads and laptops are providing more opportunities for people to watch programmes, the most favourite method remains the flat wide-screen television. For Allen, the key word to the event is “festival”. “I think it is a festival, not a conference, so it should be a celebration and a chance for the entire UK tele-vision community to gather with an increasingly large number of international delegates from overseas – we have more international delegates than ever before.

“It is a chance to be creatively inspired by hearing from people who have done great work over the last 12 months,” he said.

“There is lots of creative masterclasses and also, hopefully, lots of stimulating debate about the key issues in the industry. We will try and take a glimpse into the crystal ball and figure out where the creative and business side might be going over the next 12 months.”

• The Edinburgh International Television Festival begins tomorrow and runs until 25 August.