TV Festival Unveils Dates, Venues & Advisory Chair For First-Ever Greater Manchester Edition

The UK’s TV Festival has revealed the dates it will officially launch in Greater Manchester for the first time, with Sony international productions boss Wayne Garvie aboard as advisory chair.

The TV Festival will move one week forward from its traditional Edinburgh slot, to the week after the August Bank Holiday from August 31 to September 3.

The venues will be Versa Studios Manchester and Aviva Studios, the former of which stands on the historic site of the former Granada Studios. The Festival’s editorial programme will take place across studios in the Versa complex and the Law Family Hall in Factory International.

The TV Festival is relocating after more than 50 years in Edinburgh. A new event in Edinburgh will launch next year in partnership with Screen Scotland, and could be part of the reason Manchester has shifted its dates back a week. The move has been made for affordability and accessibility reasons, organizers have said.

Garvie, who oversees indies including Left Bank, Bad Wolf and Eleven, is a big get as chair. He takes over from Adam Hawkins, the Netflix UK docs commissioner, who did the temp role for the 2026 edition, the final one in Scotland.

TV Festival CEO Campbell Glennie said: “Work is now firmly underway for the 2027 edition of The TV Festival, with a renewed vigour, vision and creative ambition across the team. We are excited by the prospect of evolving the Festival beyond what people have come to expect. With Greater Manchester as our new home, we’re ready to grow and realise the Festival’s full potential over the coming years.”