The Bard stands with the Reformers of Peterloo, and their shared genius in teaching history with music and song
Latest editorial
How to make better TV
PAUL TUCKER asks whether a new access scheme can get more working-class people into the TV industry
Sean Gilder in Sherwood, series 1
[Pic: IMDb]
SUE TURNER is fascinated by a book that researches who the largely immigrant workforce were that built the Empire State
MARIA DUARTE and MALC McGOOKIN review Sirat, The Testament of Ann Lee, EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, and All You Need Is Kill
STEVE ANDREW recommends a Marxist analysis of the long chains of production that global corporations exploit
MARY CONWAY relishes the period detail but misses the drama in this unsatisfactory dramatisation of the subjugated life of George Eliot
IAN SINCLAIR welcomes a mainstream scholar to the ranks of left-wing critique of US foreign policy
PETER MASON is disappointed that the eponymous Count fails to put in an appearance
“TV was everything to me,” said British playwright James Graham at this year’s Edinburgh TV Festival’s MacTaggart lecture on August 20. The dramatist used his recollections of the television he watched in his youth together with tales of his working-class background to discuss a possible future of TV — including the launch of a new scheme to get more people like him into the industry.
The James MacTaggart memorial lecture has been the centrepiece of the Edinburgh TV Festival since 1977. It is named after the Scottish writer, producer and director who died in 1974 after a career making groundbreaking TV such as Play for Today and Z Cars, an early British police drama.
Born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, Graham has made his name as a writer of political screen drama (Brexit: The Uncivil War, and Coalition) and award-winning plays (Dear England, Boys From The Blackstuff). But he is perhaps best known for the BBC series Sherwood, based on the mining village where he grew up — series two starts on August 25.
Similar stories
JULIA TOPPIN recommends Patti Smith’s eloquent memoir that wrestles with the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime
BLANE SAVAGE recommends the display of nine previously unseen works by the Glaswegian artist, novelist and playwright
Following his death a month ago, DENNIS WALDER assesses the achievement of the playwright who developed his work in the townships
LEIGH CARRIAGE remembers Roberta Flack, a spellbinding virtuoso of musical interpretation