GEITF Announces Events Programme

The events programme for the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival (GEITF) 2001 has been announced. Key speakers will include: ITV’s director of programmes, David Liddiment, who will deliver the MacTaggart Lecture; president of Endemol Entertainment John de Mol, who will give the Worldview Address and Dawn Airey, chief executive of Channel 5, who will give the Richard Dunn Memorial Lecture.

Events will also include a debate on the proposed regime of Ofcom. A panel including representatives from the BBC, ITV and Oftel will discuss the possible effects of the legislation.

With Reality TV remaining some broadcasters’ golden goose, a debate about its effects on participants will include contributions from Lorraine Heggessey, Vanessa Feltz (who recently gave a spectacular illustration of the pressure of being a participant in Celebrity Big Brother) and a clinical psychologist.

One of those responsible for the genre, Peter Bazalgette, creative director of Endemol Entertainment, will join Jimmy Mulville, managing director of Hat Trick and Robert Thurkell, executive producer of BBC Business to tackle the issue of creativity and the “business of ideas” in another debate which forms part of a line-up of presentations examining the processes of producing successful programming.

The Festival will also feature a series of interviews with controllers including Channel 4’s director of programmes, Tim Gardam, Kevin Lygo, director of programmes for Channel 5, BBC1 controller Lorraine Heggessy and Andrew Newman, head of programmes on Channel 4’s new digital entertainment channel E4.

This year’s EITF takes place from the 24-26 August. Coverage of the events will appear on MediaTel NewsLine during the following week.

GEITF: 020 7430 1333 www.geitf.co.uk

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