The Edinburgh TV Festival turned 50 this year and it’s been a ride. After a distinctly doomy 2024, characterized by warnings around the “squeezed middle,” 2025 felt like something of a return to the fest’s creative roots, alongside a few sessions that got just that little bit spicy. There was also a sprinkling of glamor in the form of Shonda Rhimes and Tina Fey. Read on for Deadline’s key takeaways.
Channel 4 & Netflix Serve Up ‘Adolescence’–Themed Spice
BBC News presenter Ros Atkins leads opening debate. Image: Edinburgh TV Festival
Sometimes an executive utters a line on stage that defines the year’s proceedings. During the festival’s opening debate, Channel 4 news chief Louisa Compton accused Netflix of behaving like “TV tourists” by commissioning breakout hit Adolescence, a show created by talent that Channel 4 had been honing for years. The “oohs” in the audience were audible, as was moderator Ros Atkins’ nod to journalists: “Well, there’s your headline.” Compton described Channel 4 as “proud parents” of Adolescence due to the network’s long-standing relationship with co-creators Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham. The shot had been fired and was part of a wider argument Channel 4 wanted to build around the obligations – or lack of – that streamers have towards British content.
Later that day, Channel 4 content chief Ian Katz clarified Compton’s remarks by noting that streamers are “happy to take advantage of an incredibly rich global ecosystem that has been built up through years and years of broadcasters investing in talent.” Katz also found time to call out Netflix, Amazon, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery for foregoing their annual Spotlight Sessions. Instead, Netflix UK chief Anne Mensah spoke to delegates during a session that was curiously closed to press. Quite why Netflix wanted to resist reporters is not clear, particularly when you consider that Mensah has a stellar story to tell about a string of hit series.
The streamer did have an opportunity to respond to the “TV tourist” barb, however, during an Adolescence masterclass. Scripted exec Mona Qureshi stressed her “consternation,” as she fired: “I don’t think I’m a tourist — I’ve been around.” Another senior streamer drama executive privately observed that Channel 4 should spend less time claiming credit for Adolescence and more time nurturing the next Jack Thorne. This person noted that there was dissonance between Channel 4’s rhetoric and the splashy series announced by the network at Edinburgh: Army Of Shadows and Number 10, respectively penned by established writers Ronan Bennett and Steven Moffat.
This debate is not a new one, but there is clearly frustration from the broadcasters, many of whom have privately noted in past months that they simply couldn’t have afforded the one-shot masterclass Adolescence, in part due to the fact that streamers have entered the market in recent years and pushed up prices. It all made for some good old-fashioned healthy debate, a return to the Edinburgh days of yore when such rows were par for the course.
Can’t escape Donald Trump
Trump 2.0 loomed large. Edinburgh had a distinctly transatlantic feel this year and frustrated creatives weren’t holding back following a string of Trump-related incidents that have hit the entertainment sector in recent times. Accepting the inaugural Edinburgh fellowship, Bridgerton creator Shonda Rhimes claimed there are genuine jitters in the U.S. that network storytelling is being self-censored during the POTUS’ second term in office, as she delved into why she quit the Kennedy Center’s board in February after Trump appointed himself as chairman. In an intriguing session about Trump and the media, stand-up comic Roy Wood Jr. explained what it is like working in this febrile environment and said backlash may come soon in the shape of stars like Stephen Colbert, who is losing his long-running late-night CBS show and could instead set himself up as a leading anti-Trump voice on YouTube. Given the shadow of Trump, and the surge of the populist Reform party in the UK, it’s a surprise there were not more conservative voices at the festival (former The Spectator journalist Katy Balls was one of the few in town) — or at least more talk about how some viewers feel disenfranchised by traditional media and are turning to platforms like GB News. Should TV’s liberal executives be grappling with these forces and talking about them more openly?
YouTube: here to stay
Munya Chawawa
Edinburgh Television Festival
A Thursday afternoon debate apocalyptically titled ‘YouTube: The Future Or The End of TV As We Know It?’ was standing room only, and many punters couldn’t even get in. Leveraging the power of the Google-owned platform felt almost an obsession from traditional telly folk this year and it dominated conversation as broadcasters and super-indies alike look to take advantage of top YouTube talent and utilize the platform far more effectively. In stepped Munya Chawawa, who delivered a fired-up Alternative MacTaggart in which the creative whose stardom emerged from lockdown virality blasted British TV gatekeepers for “ignoring evolution” and urged them to work closer with the growing flock of digital creatives. One VIP taking note was The Traitors super-producer Stephen Lambert, who this morning revealed his indie is working on shows for YouTube for the first time. Industry sources we spoke with in between sessions were intrigued yet sceptical, pointing out that broadcasters’ slice of the YouTube pie is still tiny and that the debate around leveraging the power of digital talent has been going on for years. But whatever the situation, a platform which is now the second most-watched in the UK (behind only the BBC) is clearly going to need considerably more attention as the years roll on.
‘Fewer, bigger, better’ shows
There were notably fewer programme announcements at this year’s Edinburgh – usually used by PRs as a chance to unveil a feast of new shows – but when they were announced, they came with heft, reflecting the ‘fewer, bigger, better’ mantra that has subsumed all the big players over the past couple of years. They are greenlighting less, but when they greenlight, they commit. Leading the charge was new HBO-Sky co-pro War, a legal thriller starring Dominic West and Sienna Miller that has, intriguingly, been greenlit with a two-season order. Channel 4 unveiled the a duo of weighty new dramas from Moffat and The Day of the Jackal showrunner Ronan Bennett, the latter being a reimagining of 1969 movie Army of Shadows set in a near-future authoritarian Britain co-produced with Canal+. ITV, meanwhile, took its own punt at replicating the success of The Traitors with Nobody’s Fool, a guessing game-style show fronted by Rivals pair Danny Dyer and Emily Atack. The BBC was content with building buzz for The Celebrity Traitors, which drew one of the biggest rounds of applause of the fest when its release date was announced.
Edinburgh back to its creative best
Image: Edinburgh TV Festival
Edinburgh needed a shot of creativity and positive energy after last year’s doomfest and there was a concerted effort to make this happen, even if things felt a smidgeon quieter footfall-wise. Vibes were uplifted and attendees communicated a distinct sense that we have now entered a “new normal” and there is no point spending too much time harking back to days of yore. This likely led to the fever pitch around YouTube and gave a dose of energy around what really matters, the content, with masterclasses on Big Brother, Adolescence, Rivals and Last One Laughing UK all well attended. There is no point pretending things aren’t tough (a Bectu survey published in the past few hours found nearly half of the TV workforce are out of work) but there is definitely a more coherent approach to making things work in the industry and Edinburgh reflected this. Landing the likes of Rhimes and Fey helped a great deal, and the fest’s organizers will be hoping they can replicate this in 2026 without the pulling power of this year’s chair Jane Tranter, the Doctor Who executive whose contacts book is likely stuffed full of top transatlantic talent and who, by all accounts, worked her absolute socks off. MacTaggart lecturer James Harding’s call for a BBC free of political interference felt like a good jumping-off point for what will likely dominate next year as the corporation’s charter renewal nears. This festival matters, and the great-and-good of the British TV industry still understand that.