Reboots, Representation and Ripping Into Politics: 8 Top Takeaways From Edinburgh TV Festival

Brent Lang Executive Editor It was supposed to be all about the movies. But even here at the Toronto International Film Festival, an ocean away from the United Kingdom, the death of 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth II has loomed large. It has provided an opportunity for festival organizers, filmmakers and talent to reflect on the life and legacy of a monarch whose 70-year reign ranks as the longest in her country’s history. That’s partly due to Canada’s status as a member of the British Commonwealth, but it’s also because the festival is such an international A-list affair, one that attracts movie stars and directors who have often had personal encounters with the queen.

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Disney+ has commissioned a doc on the sensational ‘Wagatha Christie’ legal case, another on fashion magazine Vogue and a Keanu Reeves-voiced Formula 1 series as part of its UK slate.

Alternative MacTaggart lecturer Rose Ayling-Ellis has revealed the crushing pressure of feeling like “the poster girl for the deaf community” as she urged the TV world to “be braver and have the courage to make changes.”

British pay-TV network Sky expects to continue its relationship with HBO “one way or the other,” as Warner Bros. Discovery’s plans to merge HBO Max and Discovery+ in Europe next year gather pace.

Sky has unveiled seven original comedy shorts at the Edinburgh Television Festival written by and starring the likes of Rosie Jones, Desiree Burch and Jordan Stephens, while ordering Painting Birds with Jim and Nancy Moir (working title) and greenlighting a fifth season of Brassic.

Netflix has put a doc series about British pop superstar Robbie Williams into production, as its UK original series chief Anne Mensah doubled down on the streamer’s commitment to the UK despite the coming cost of living crisis and concerns over share price drop impacts.

The BBC has commissioned a Catherine Tate comedy, Scottish drama Mayflies starring Line of Duty star Martin Compston, show from BAFTA winners Paul Coleman and Sian Gibson, and fourth season of Man like Mobeen.

BBC Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore has hit back at Channel 4’s Ian Katz’s view on TV reboots by stating “well Channel 4 bought The Great British Bake Off back.”

Ewan McGregor (Obi Wan Kenobi) has been cast as the lead in Paramount+’s upcoming UK drama series A Gentleman in Moscow, replacing Kenneth Branagh, news that came as Paramount Premium Group CEO David Nevins laid out his vision for Paramount+’s international expansion and talked creativity at the Edinburgh TV Festival.

Channel 4 Chief Content Officer Ian Katz has said “there is something depressing” about the number of UK TV reboots currently in production.

Sky has greenlit documentaries on England World Cup winner Geoff Hurst, serial killer Fred West and music producer Phil Spector. Scroll down for the full slate below.

Veep and The Thick of It creator Armando Iannucci is still angry. In fact, he told delegates here at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Wednesday that he is “angrier than ever” at the direction of the UK’s politics and broadcasting, seven years after his blistering MacTaggart lecture urged the BBC to fight back against its critics and railed against a sale of Channel 4 — both topics now back on the agenda.