ITV

Remaining “local” in terms of story, themes and talent was key. In fact, Paul Marquess – MD of PGM TV and a veteran of soaps including Brookside and Hollyoaks – argued that what worked, in his experience, was being “very local”. 

Marquess said: “It is much harder to build a franchise with global appeal… but there is a huge appetite for quality English-speaking drama.” He called for more locally produced drama in Dublin, adding: “This is a cool place!”

Lorna Martin, who won the inaugural Writers Award at the RTS Scotland Awards in June, encouraged would-be writers in the audience to put pen to paper: “People want your story. There’s so many production companies and they want content.”

Martin – who adapted her best-selling book, Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, for UKTV channel W and RTÉ2 (Women on the Verge) – continued: “Look for the type of production company whose shows resonate with you or [make] shows you like – I think that’s crucial.”

She added: “And send them a nice email.”

Nadia’s Family Feasts

Presenter and actor Nadia Sawalha will get households ready for the busy weeks ahead with her family recipes in her new cooking series Nadia’s Family Feasts.

Sawalha, who won Celebrity MasterChef in 2009, will be joined by a guest chef each week and together they will cook breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert.

Each episode will be themed around different cuisines including British, Chinese, French, Indian, Italian, Middle Eastern and North American.

Chair

Lorraine Kelly, Broadcaster

McCall is joined by Susanna Reid, Neil Mortensen, Kevin Lygo and the consumer panel in Leeds with Ranvir Singh, as they discuss a wide ranging look at the challenges and opportunities for the television industry in a fast-changing world.

Chairs

Susanna Reid, Journalist and Broadcaster 

Ranvir Singh, Journalist and Broadcaster

Speakers

Too Close follows Dr Emma Robinson (Emily Watson), a forensic psychiatrist who is assigned to assess Connie, a patient accused of a terrible crime that she cannot remember committing.

Robinson attempts to determine if Connie is fit to stand trial and learns of a complicated relationship between Connie and her beautiful best friend Ness, who appears to have a strong influence on her mental condition.

Speaking to the RTS he said: “It meant that people came to me with their ideas. Steve Coogan came to me with Philomena (Coogan and Pope’s screenplay was nominated for an Oscar and won best screenplay at the Venice Film Festival).

“Success gets you meetings, but it still doesn’t get something past the finishing line if it’s not good enough…It also means you can be more ambitious and more expansive.”

It may be Carolyn McCall’s first RTS Cambridge but she knows what she wants from the convention’s speakers. They should be positive and provocative. She also wants to hear from the voices of the people who consume the content.

“There is no point going into the Cambridge Convention with an attitude of ‘It’s all doom and gloom’. Yes, there are challenges but the opportunities for content creators have never been greater,” she emphasises.

OK, in the spirit of apologetic full disclosure, this ain’t a normal week for me. It’s August. Piers and Susanna are off (deservedly – thought I’d better slip that in) on their French car factory-style summer sojourn. I’m also sneaking in a bit of R&R and extra-curricular that the normal 100-hour week doesn’t allow.

At Latitude, the hybrid Glasto crossed with church fête Suffolk festival, where, among the middle aged of the mojito-fuelled mosh pit, I bump (literally) into my ex-ITV boss Peter Fincham for our annual blokey embrace.