Since 1976 the James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture has been the centrepiece of the Edinburgh TV Festival. It provokes and inspires debate, conversation and change. Joining a long list of thinkers and luminaries, award-winning playwright and dramatist James Graham will deliver the 49th lecture. Lauded as one of the most incisive and prolific voices of his generation, James Graham has risen to prominence for his critically acclaimed and hugely popular stage, television and film work. He’s also regarded as the UK’s most prominent and celebrated political dramatist. Graham is responsible for some of the most memorable stage and screen dramas of the past decade, including Dear England, which he is currently adapting for television, Sherwood, Quiz, Ink, Brexit: The Uncivil War, Coalition, This House, and his recent stage adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s ground-breaking TV drama Boys From The Black Stuff. Graham is a fearless contemporary chronicler of British history, institutions and power structures, and a firm believer in the role of television in shaping the political agenda and illuminating social injustice. He’s also deeply committed to a vision of representation that confidently includes social class and regionality, and we couldn’t think of anyone better to speak to where we find ourselves culturally, socially and politically in 2024. Join us in the Lennox for the event that brings all of us together, defines what is unique about the Edinburgh TV Festival and will surely inform many more essential conversations to come.