Edinburgh TV Festival

Edinburgh TV Festival (Look Here)

Programme looking at issues around television, with items on the Edinburgh TV festival, the popularity of quiz shows and the prospect of a fourth channel.

This edition of LWT's monthly programme, presented by Andrew Neil, begins with a report from the 1978 Edinburgh television festival, where there had been discussion about the rise in concern at violence in TV drama. Such criticisms had led to instances of censorship and editorial intervention by the BBC.

Writer Kennith Trodd cites the example of Barry Keeffe's Gotcha, which the BBC director general had banned. Also mentioned is Caryl Churchill's The Legion Hall Bombing, which had been re-written by BBC executives against the wishes of Churchill and the director Roland Joffe. Writer Howard Schuman argues that expectations of the 'accountability' of broadcasters too often means them falling into line with a narrow, petit-bourgeois sensibility.

Another item explores the growing popularity of quiz shows on television. Nicholas Parsons argues that while a vocal minority of viewers and critics might criticise them, such shows are popular with a silent majority.

The third item sees a viewer criticise ITV's Spearhead series for what he felt were its unrealistic portrayals of the British army.

The final item considers arguments for a proposed fourth channel, and what kind of programming it should offer.

Tags

From the collection

Edinburgh - Festival City

A taste of Edinburgh's extraordinary history as a centre for the arts.

The Edinburgh International Festival, founded in 1947, is one of the world's most celebrated cultural events, an annual feast of fine art, theatre, ballet, opera and more. Created to offer healing through the arts after long years of war, the festival brought a swell of excitement from the start. Immediately, eight uninvited theatre companies joined the festival, creating an alternative arts festival that was eventually termed the Edinburgh Fringe (where comedy would eventually become the dominant force). The international film festival, which sadly announced its closure in 2022, came into being in the same moment of artistic reformation. In this collection, we look at Edinburgh as a media, arts and culture centre, giving a taste of how these intersecting events conspired to make Edinburgh a global cultural hub.

10 videos in this collection

Watch in libraries only

Festival Cinema [13/08/98]

  • 1998
Watch in libraries only

Don't Look Down [21/04/96]

  • 1996
Watch in libraries only

Doin\' The Festival (14.9.99)

  • 1999
Watch in libraries only

Don't Look Down [16/02/97]

  • 1997
Watch in libraries only

Festival Daze[07/08/2000]

  • 2000
Watch in libraries only

Festival Cinema [18/08/96]

  • 1996
Watch in libraries only

Festival Cinema [11/08/96]

  • 1996
Watch in libraries only

Festival Cinema (25.8.96)

  • 1996
Watch in libraries only

Edinburgh TV Festival

  • 1978
The screen legend conducts a personal tour of the great city that shaped him.

Sean Connery's Edinburgh

  • Edinburgh
  • 1982
View full collection