RICHARD GADD RETURNS TO EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

Pic copyright Bev Lyons 
Pics copyright Bev  Lyons 

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Beverley Lyons 
Baby Reindeer star Richard Gadd returned to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for the first time since 2019 - and was accompanied by his fellow Netflix star Jessica Gunning.
Richard tried to keep a low profile as he attended Pleasance venue the EICC alongside Jessica for industry event the Edinburgh TV awards.
He was nominated for Best Drama and Best TV actor and sat in the audience alongside Jessica who was also nominated and won the award for Best TV Actor.
After the ceremony, Richard told fans outside: “I love coming back to Scotland and Edinburgh when I can and of course have recently been working on my new series Half Man for HBO and BBC but can’t say much else just now.”
Jessica also admitted she was thrilled to be back in Edinburgh.
She said on stage: “Some of those performances are the best I’ve seen in my life so to be nominated genuinely is really really an honour. Thankyou so much for this award. It encapsulated all my favourite things, Edinburgh, TV, winning awards ha!”
“This is especially special because the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is where Baby Reindeer began and I thank my lucky stars every day that Mr Richard Gadd trusted me to be his Martha and this is very very special. I kind of don’t really have the words really. Just thankyou to everybody involved in the show and especially thankyou to Richard for everything.”
She later added: “I used to come here when one of my good friends was performing at the Fringe so it’s great to be back.”
Richard recently said he wouldn’t be returning to the Fringe in an interview on Marc Maron's podcast. 
He explained: “Even when it goes well, the Fringe can be tough.
“Every time I would gear up to go and think: 'I'm not going to let it affect me this month. It's one hour's work a night and I just need to get through it.'
"But whatever happened, by the end of the month I would be like a dead man walking… I think doing Edinburgh shows, is probably a thing of the past.
Gadd last appeared at the Fringe in 2019, with the stage play version of Baby Reindeer.

CAROL VORDERMAN COMES TO EDINBURGH FOR TV FEST

By K Monroe 

BROADCASTER, writer and campaigner, Carol Vorderman MBE, is heading to Scotland to talk about her life in telly and her views on where it is going. 

Carol will be the Alternative MacTaggart speaker at the 2024 Edinburgh TV Festival supported by Screen Scotland, and will speak to a room full of TV delegates at the annual fest.

Carol, who the showbizlion.com has met on various occasions, is one of the UK’s most popular and successful presenters and, more recently, political commentator and campaigner. With a passion for everything mathematical and a skill with numbers, Vorderman made a name for herself when she started her TV career in 1982 as the maths genius on Countdown, working with the late Richard Whitely for 22 years and then with Des Lynam and Des O’Connor until she left in 2008. 

Awarded an MBE in 2000 for her services to broadcasting and having appeared on and presented a raft of the nation’s favourite TV shows, Vorderman currently hosts a weekly radio show on LBC, a daily quiz podcast ‘Perfect 10’, the Pride of Britain Awards and is now also known for her political activism.  

Vorderman grew up in a single parent family in poverty in North Wales with her sister, brother and her beloved mum. As a free school meals child in a comprehensive, she became the first from North Wales to go to the University of Cambridge when she was just 17 years old. Now with an extensive broadcasting career under her belt, Vorderman has become a significant voice in the political landscape with a passionate determination to hold those in power to account. September this year will see the publication of her new book, ‘Now What? On a Mission to Fix Broken Britain’.  

For the Alternative MacTaggart, Vorderman will bring her extensive experience in TV and frontline of social media campaigning to her address at this year’s Festival. She will then be interviewed in more detail to discuss the themes of her speech.   

On giving the Alternative MacTaggart, Vorderman said:  

”I feel honoured to have been asked to be this year’s Alternative MacTaggart speaker.  As our industry transitions, there is much to discuss. 42 years on the box, hosting shows for all channels, it’s been an interesting life! I choose to live a life outside of the media thrall of London and I live without apology. Beware the post-menopausal woman who doesn’t give a damn! I’ll see you in Edinburgh.” 

The TV Festival Creative Director, Rowan Woods and Advisory Chair, Harj Chhokar, commented:  

“This year’s Alternative MacTaggart will be delivered by a true TV legend. Since making her debut on Countdown, the first ever programme on Channel 4, Carol Vorderman MBE has been part of the DNA of the UK television industry and a mainstay of our screens. She is also a funny, fearless and ferocious commentator on everything from politics to social mobility, sexism and education. We know her Alternative MacTaggart is going to be one of the must-see events of this year’s festival.” 

Other speakers already confirmed for the Festival include multi-platinum music artist and tech entrepreneur will.i.am, multi-award-winning producer, Warren Littlefield,BAFTA winning writer Sarah Phelps, celebrated actors Julie Hesmondhalghand Rakhee Thakrar and The Grand Tourand Clarkson’s Farm executive producer, Andy Wilman, as well as renowned playwright and dramatist James Grahamwho will be giving the prestigious MacTaggart lecture. 

The hugely popular Spotlight On… sessions return with the decision makers from across the mainstream, digital and streamer broadcasters revealing what’s hot and what’s not on their content strategy for the year ahead. 

Further sessions will be announced soon.Passes on sale now. 

SCOTS TORY LEADER RUTH DAVIDSON TALKS DIRTY DANCING

RUTH Davidson slammed Jon Snow for calling her Baby during the Edinburgh TV festival telling him: "Nobody puts baby in the corner."
The Scottish Tory leader was in conversation with Jon in the EICC when Jon referred to her as part of the liberal elite, like himself. She responded: "Some of us didn't have parents who went to Winchester and Eton Jon. Some of us are born into it, some of us aren't."
Jon replied: "You are now, baby the leader of...
Ruth interrupted him saying: "Did you call me baby?" And Jon replied: "Yes it's a term of endearment."
Ruth then responded: "Nobody puts baby in the corner."
As Jon tried to amend the situation by saying: "It's wonderful that you are leader of the Scottish Tory party."Ruth responded: "Flattery gets you away from the question."
During their chat Ruth also admitted she gets fed up with stories about Big Ben coming from the often London centric press. She said: "I have to say as somebody being 450 miles away nothing gets on my wick more than screeds of news and time and effort and newsprint being devoted to a bloody clock that's going to stop ticking for a bit.
I'm very lucky that in my job I have to go up and down to London every month at so I'm lucky I've heard it in the flesh. Lots of people have bit you just think you probably can't hear it a mile away. Apart from that one square mile there's 99.99999 who haven't ever heard it."
Following the conversation Jon Snow said he'd love to be stranded in a desert island with Ruth since they now had a friendship. He also said he'd love to leave Trump stranded on one.
He joked: "I can't think of anyone I dislike enough to put on a dessert island.
I certainly wouldn't mind putting Donald Trump on a desert island. I haven't interviewed him but I've been in the same room too many times."
As Ruth suggested: "Take his phone off him." Jon said: "Yes we don't want him tweeting. I think there should be access to the waters around him so people could see him sitting there underneath a tree his thatch beginning to fall to pieces. It would be a lovely thing to do."
Jin also revealed during the session that he is putting on an exhibition of his ties in November.

OUTLANDER'S SAM HEUGHAN GETS THUMBS UP DURING RONALD D. MOORE EDINBURGH VISIT

OUTLANDER producer Ronald D Moore has heaped praise on Scots star Sam Heughan.
Speaking at the Edinburgh TV festival he said: "Sam's great. He takes it all in his stride. I don't think he takes himself too seriously. It's great people have such a response to him."
Ron revealed Sam and the cast will be leaving Scotland to go to the Caribbean.
He explained: "We are working on both third and fourth and seasons and third and fourth books. The third book starts in Scotland and we have a big extended story between Claire and Jamie seperately. And they will take a sea voyage across the Atlantic ending up in Jamaica and the Caribbean and eventually the New World. It'll be a whole new look for the show and a big epic adventure for season three. It'll be fun and there's always something new in the show. I like the fact that each season is different from what went before. It's a big challenge for the production but always something exciting."
Ron who says he not on set enough to have some funny stories about the production also claimed he'd love to drop some Klingons into the historical time travel series.
Asked if he'd add in anything if he were allowed free reign on the show he said: "You know it would be nice if the Klingons turned up every now and again, for sure."
Ron who wrote countless episodes of Star Trek as well as Battlestar Galactica also believes Sci fi allows writers to address contemporary issues in society without scaring viewers.
He said: "If you put these things in a science fiction context, you get a free pass, not just from networks, but from audiences as well, because you are allowing them to think about things in a way that doesn't threaten anybody. If you call them Klingons, it's different than if you call them the Soviets. In Battlestar Galactica, if they are the Cylons it's different than if you are saying it's al-Qaida."
Ronald also revealed that he is working on a Philip K Dick anthology series Electric Dreams. He said: "We are going to write some of the short stories that Dick wrote and there are over a hundred of those. Many of the short stories have not been read and some of them have never been turned into television shows. The idea is each writer will be inspired by a particular film or short story so each writer will realise a different show week after week so it will be like mini movies we are putting on every day."
Ends


Extracts of this interview were sold to the Scottish Sun.
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/7228235/Ronald-D-Moore-Id-love-to-drop-some-Klingons-into-Outlander.html


- Posted with love from Scotland by theShowbizLion.com

EDINBURGH TV FEST IS OPEN TO YOU

THE Edinburgh International TV festival rolls into town this week and you're invited.
The fest, brought by YouTube and BT, is normally only open to Telly Big Wigs and a beautiful media crowd, but this year they are throwing open the doors of exclusive showings to punters.
The Filmhouse Cinema has a number of events happening on Wednesday and Thursday from a Sci fi masterclass with Ronald D Moore of Star Trek and Outlander fame to screenings and Q & As with writers like Doug Naylor from Red Dwarf and writer and actor Shane Allen and Kevin Bishop from Porridge. There are also screenings of People Just Do Nothing, Fortitude, The Fall and Poldark and for the first time in TV Festival history, access to see CEO of VICE Shane Smith speak at the MacTaggart, and Sharon Horgan be interviewed by Frankie Boyle in the Alternative MacTaggart.
The TV festival is one of the highlights of theshowbizlion.com Edinburgh festival diary and we love bumping into the colourful characters who attend.
This year stars appearing at the main event include Lee Mack, Russell T Davies, Mel B and Professor Green.

Fancy going? Here's the link for you to get tickets:
http://www.filmhousecinema.com/seasons/edinburgh-international-television-festival-2016/


To book tickets to see CEO VICE Media Shane Smith deliver this year’s James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture, visit the Playhouse Theatre website: http://www.atgtickets.com/shows/the-james-mactaggart-memorial-lecture/edinburgh-playhouse/

To see Sharon Horgan in conversation with Frankie Boyle in this year’s Alternative MacTaggart Lecture, visit the EventBrite website to book your tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/frankie-boyle-in-conversation-with-sharon-horgan-tickets-26409302936

From Scotland with Love - theshowbizlion.com