Pilot Light TV Festival returns for its third year at HOME, 3-6 May 2018, with actors, directors, writers,  premieres, celebrations of classics, panels and retrospectives alongside its unique brand of communal TV experiences.

It opens with the season two premiere of the critically acclaimed Westworld, in partnership with Sky Atlantic, which will be shown on the big screen in HOME’s Cinema 2. Also being celebrated at the festival is Arrow TV’s Gomorrah, the inside story of fierce crime organisation the Camorra, widely regarded as one of the best European foreign language TV shows of all time.

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Salford-born Christopher Eccleston (Shallow Grave, 28 Days Later, Cracker, Doctor Who and The A Word) appears at the festival in conversation with the University of Salford School of Arts and Media’s Dr Kirsty Fairclough.

Michael Cumming: Director’s Commentary sees the ground-breaking director return to Pilot Light with a unique show and tell, discussing some of his favourite work including Brass Eye, Toast of London, The Mark Thomas Project, Snuff Box, and the Mark Steel Lectures.

This year, Pilot Light introduces the In-Memoriam strand, dedicated to celebrating and mourning outstanding series that left us too soon, with those who brought them into this world. This first edition celebrates Dennis Kelly’s Utopia, a beautiful, brutal and captivating British conspiracy thriller cancelled after only two short series. Following a screening of the first episode, creator Dennis Kelly is joined by the shows cast and crew for an exclusive Q and A.

Walter Presents: Tabula Rasa sees Walter Iuzzolino return to the festival to introduce the next big hit from his Channel 4 foreign language drama on demand brand, and discuss upcoming Walter Presents releases.

#Reality 2.0 is a screening of this award winning 8-part social commentary anthology web series about being young, Black and British. Writer and creator Nathan Bryon (Benidorm), will be joined after the screening by director Theresa Varga and Emma Bullimore (BBC Radio 5 Live) to discuss their show’s themes and production.

I told my Mum I was going on an R.E. trip is a screening of Contact and 20 Stories High’s warm and honest verbatim drama, about young people’s real experiences of abortion, which was produced for the BBC’s Performance Live strand and first aired on BBC 2 in January to huge critical acclaim.

The screening is followed by a Q and A with writer and producer Julia Samuels, Contact’s Roxanne Moores (producer) and director Lindy Heymann.

Pilot Light Awards

This year the inaugural Pilot Light Excellence in Television Award goes to Julie Hesmondhalgh, known for her exceptional and trail-blazing roles in Coronation Street, Broadchurch, Inside No.9, Happy Valley and Cucumber. She will appear at the festival in conversation about her performances and the stories behind her incredible career.

Pilot Light TV Festival once again champions work from the next generation of storytellers from across the globe, screening under-seen projects in order to get them in front of both the TV industry and TV fans.

All the shows selected and screened, in six blocks across the festival, are in competition for the festival’s Best TV Pilots and Best Web Series Awards with the winners announced at the festival’s closing event. 

Anniversary Celebrations

Pilot Light is dedicated to celebrating the anniversaries of iconic shows, and this year marks the 20^th anniversary of three iconic shows.

Sex and the City: The World according to Woke Charlotte, in collaboration with London’s Reel Good Film Club, examines the impact the show had on women of colour, and the progress in on screen representation made during the last twenty years, through a live script writing of the pilot recast entirely with people of colour.

A celebration of The Royle Family will take place with a special Q and A featuring Sue Johnston (Barbara Royle), Peter Martin (Joe Carroll) and director Steve Bendelack (The League of Gentlemen).

Big Train on a Big Screen is the final 20^th anniversary screening, a three-hour Sunday marathon of the show featuring exclusive video introduction from creator Arthur Matthews and actor Kevin Eldon.

Blue Peter’s The History of Everything is a celebration of the truly iconic show’s 60^th birthday, a run that has seen over 5,000 shows, millions of viewers, and hundreds of thousands of badges awarded. This screening features some of the most hilarious, charming and nostalgic clips of the last six decades interspersed with chat from some legendary Blue Peter presenters.

Industry panels

 This year, Pilot Light has an extended series of panels and workshops to provide insight into the TV industry for those looking to break through, discussions of the essential topics all producers and broadcasters are considering, and behind the scenes of some iconic shows.

Digital Creators UK Writers Room, hosted by Festival Partners DCUK, will see actors perform scripts submitted by local creators, for an expert panel including Andrew Burrell (Danger Mouse, Disenchantment) and Dana Bruce (Warp Films, CBBC, Netflix).

Class and Diversity in British Television, is a panel discussion, featuring EastEnders writer Lisa Gifford, and Deborah Williams, CEO of the Creative Diversity Network, which will look at how representative British television actually is, whether this is being acknowledged by commissioners and execs and specifically how stories by working classes can be more inclusive by nature.

A behind the scenes insight into Karrot Animation’s BAFTA winning CBeebies show Sarah and Duck, welcomes Series Co-creator/Director Tim O’Sullivan and Producer Jamie Badminton who will chart the journey the show has taken over its three series to date.

New voices in TV and film: distinct voices, diverse stories, is a panel conversation, hosted by TV and film publicist Fiona McGarva (Sundae Communications), looking at trail-blazing short film initiative shortFLIX, led by Creative England in partnership with the National Youth Theatre and Sky Arts, and discussing the possible impact of this type of programme for under-represented talent.

Other industry events including Pitching Digital Series: Beyond a YouTube Existence, which welcomes experts from Baby Cow, Raindance Web Fest, and All 4; Costume Design and Fashion on TV, a discussion with designers from Black Mirror to Corrie, guided by journalist Emma Bullimore (BBC 5 Live, TV Times); and Women in SVoD: Equity on Demand, a session, based on research by PhD candidate Kirsten Stoddart, exploring gendered hiring tactics and professional experiences.

For more information and screening times please visit pilotlightfestival.co.uk/

For ticket to the festival, starting at £3, please visit: homemcr.org/event/pilot-light-tv-festival-season-3/