The MacTaggart Lecture is the keynote speech at the GuardianMedia Edinburgh Television Festival. The 2010 lecture is being given by BBC Director General Mark Thompson.
Thompson was previously Director of National and Regional Broadcasting, responsible for all broadcasting activities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and for local and regional broadcasting in England.
He joined the BBC in 1979 as a production trainee, helped launch Watchdog in 1981 and Breakfast Time in 1983 and he also worked on London Plus before becoming an output editor on Newsnight in 1985. He was appointed Editor of the Nine O'Clock News in 1988 and Editor of Panorama in 1990.
Mark Thompson became Head of Features in 1992 and Head of Factual Programmes in 1994, playing a key role in the successful performance of BBC One and BBC Two and introducing series such as Animal Hospital, Modern Times, The House and Ready Steady Cook.
Instituted 34 years ago to open the annual Edinburgh International Television Festival, the prestigious MacTaggart Lecture always attracts major names in UK and international broadcasting and is known for producing controversial and agenda-setting speeches.
Previous speakers at MacTaggart Lecture
2009 James Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive, Europe and Asia, News Corporation
2008 Peter Fincham, Director of Television, ITV
2007 Jeremy Paxman, Broadcaster, Newsnight, BBC
2006 Charles Allen, Chief Executive, ITV
2005 Lord Birt
2004 John Humphrys
2003 Tony Ball, Chief Executive, BSkyB
2002 Mark Thompson, Chief Executive, Channel 4
2001 David Liddiment, Director of Channels, ITV Network
2000 Greg Dyke, Director General, BBC
1999 Richard Eyre, Chief Executive, ITV Network Centre
1998 Peter Bazalgette, Managing Director, Bazal
1997 Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, Writers
1996 John Birt, Director General, BBC
1995 Janet Street-Porter
1994 Greg Dyke
1993 Dennis Potter, Playwright and Director
1992 Michael Grade, Chief Executive, Channel 4
1991 David Elstein, Director of Programmes, Thames Television
1990 Verity Lambert, Independent Film and Television Producer, Cinema Verity
1989 Rupert Murdoch, CEO News Corporation and proprietor, Sky TV
1988 Christine Ockrent, Broadcaster and Journalist
1987 Phillip Whitehead, Independent Producer
1986 Troy Kennedy Martin, Writer
1985 John Schlesinger, Film Director
1984 Denis Forman, Granada
1983 Dr Jonathan Miller, Film Director
1982 Ted Turner, Cable Network News, USA
1981 Peter Jay
1980 John Mortimer, Writer
1979 Jeremy Isaacs, Channel 4
1978 Norman Lear, Producer
1977 Marcel Ophuls, Film and Television Director
1976 John McGrath, Playwright