In homage to TV reviews The Drum has employed the traditional 'star rating' to the speakers and sessions at this year's Edinburgh TV Festival.
Taking place last week the festival included appearances from the likes of Hollywood A-lister Kevin Spacey, Breaking Bad genius Vince Gilligan, retail expert turned TV personality Mary Portas, and an unplanned visit from BBC director general Tony Hall.
Kevin Spacey - ★★
An entertaining speech as you'd expect from a Hollywood A-Lister but a sophisticated audience largely saw through the naivety of his plea for creative freedom. Even if his speech had triggered any meaningful debate, he wouldn't have been able to hear it - he was rushed to the airport as soon as he'd finished the Q&A session the morning after his lecture.
Ben Frow - ★★★
The animated controller of Channel 5 took to the stage at 4:45pm on Friday but despite the graveyard slot provided Edinburgh TV Festival gold. With his frank revelations about 5’s programming to admitting that even he didn’t know who half the contestants on this year’s Celebrity Big Brother were. Frow’s tête-à-tête with Rick Edwards was entertaining to say the least. His only downfall was failing to provide representation at the earlier commissioner’s session where Channel 5 performed had performed poorly in the commissioning behaviour’s poll.
Vince Gilligan - ★★★★
It was a masterstroke by the organisers to invite the Breaking Bad creator to address this year's TV Festival. His presentation may be understated but like Walter White - the anti-hero created by Gilligan - his product is massively superior to the competition's. With Breaking Bad heading towards its eagerly awaited climax, a packed audience of industry professionals hung on his every word.
Peter Fincham - ★★★★★
Has anyone ever had a better TV Festival than the current ITV controller? His station won Channel of the Year; ITV drama Broadchurch won the New Programme Award; and ITV performed best in a survey revealing the good and bad habits of the various commissioning teams. Fincham himself was unflappable when pressed by Martha Kearney about the pay-off he received when he left the BBC and he even managed to down Jägerbombs without making an arse of himself during Friday night's celebrations of ITV's win.
Mary Portas - ★★★★
Delivering the Alternative MacTaggart to more than a few empty seats didn’t faze Portas in the slightest as the retail expert turned TV personality discussed her move into the television industry, her remit of Channel 4 shows and the controversial Portas review. The hour-long chat with Richard Bacon at times felt like a love-in between old chums, but the audience couldn’t fail to be moved as Portas recalled crying down the phone to Guardian editor Alan Rushbridger after her review of British high streets turned political.
Tony Hall - ★★★★
The decision by the new Director General of the BBC to gatecrash a panel discussion about the issues challenging him put a frown on Alan Yentob's face - but it was a gamble that paid off. Hall demonstrated the public relations skills that made him the unanimous choice when George Entwistle was obliged to resign in the wake of the Newsnight debacle. He dealt with questions about pay-offs and cronyism and played cleverly to the crowd by praising the BBC's Edinburgh Festival coverage.
Jay Hunt - ★★★
Channel 4's controller operates at 45rpm in a 33rpm world and this can be impressive when her message is being well-received. But when she's on the backfoot - defending Channel 4's poor showing in the poll examining commissioning behaviour, for example - it can have the opposite effect as her thousand-words-a-minute can sound incredibly defensive. On the plus side, her station won awards for its coverage of Disability Awareness and for the programmes Black Mirror and The Undateables.
Charlotte Moore - ★★
Current BBC One controller Charlotte Moore’s ‘Meet the Controller’ session with former BBC Controller Lorraine Heggessey at times felt like watching a ‘Mean Girls’ bitch-off as Heggessey suggested Moore was more suited to a role at BBC Two and that her background in factual left her unprepared for the world of BBC One. Moore scored points when she snapped back at Heggessey suggesting she too did not have experience of commissioning drama and entertainment when she took on the role. Moore went for the Doctor Who vote presenting an exclusive clip from November's outing featuring current Doctor and assistant - Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman - alongside the previous Doctor and one of his old assistants - David Tennant and Billie Piper.
Netflix - ★★★★
Unlike last year when the online 'broadcaster' had a strong presence in Edinburgh, Netflix kept a low profile over the last few days but they were still one of the stars of the Festival. Kevin Spacey championed their refreshing approach during the MacTaggart Lecture - the least he could do when you consider the risk they took with his series House of Cards - and their decision to make each of the last eight episodes of 'Breaking Bad' available just a few hours after the US broadcast is widely seen as a game-changing piece of innovation.
Great British Bake Off – Mel & Sue, Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood - ★★★
Hats off to Mel & Sue who had to spend the best part of an hour vamping as executives from Sky, BBC and UKTV along with talent manager Lisa Thomas set about making lemon shortbread. The festival’s opening session really was testament to the editing process as the presenters struggled to keep the audience engaged for the full hour. Meant as a bit of fun the session can’t be judged to seriously and, despite an audience member falling asleep, highlights of the opener included John Bishop’s impromptu addition to the Bake-Off cast, Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood’s judging in which Berry managed to include her ‘soggy bottom’ catchphrase…and the free mini-scones.
