Jed Mercurio

More than 350 people attended a series of workshops, masterclasses and panel events run by industry professionals from across the creative sector.

BBC Studios talent manager Julie Forbes and BBC NI senior resourcing advisor Nicola McConville ran a CV masterclass. The duo offered advice on how to break into the competitive TV and film industries, and gave one-to-one “creative clinics” to hone interview skills and CVs. Their tips included: “Never send the same CV twice – get to know the companies around you.”

Nesbitt plays a Northern Irish police detective, Tom Brannick, who is dragged into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse when a car containing a suicide note is pulled out of Strangford Lough.

Brannick connects the note to an infamous cold case that is deeply personal and puts him on the hunt for a legendary assassin.  

Nesbitt commented: “It’s great to be back making a drama in and about Northern Ireland, which now has a film and television industry as good as any in the world.

Veteran arts programme The South Bank Show has celebrated the best of TV drama from its earliest days. In the very first series it aired a film on Dennis Potter. Since then, Andrew Davies, Paul Abbott, Jimmy McGovern and Sally Wainwright have all featured.

Melvyn Bragg was talking at a special live edition of The South Bank Show, featuring four of the UK’s leading TV writers – Jed Mercurio (writer and creator of hit police corruption thriller Line of Duty); Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith (black comedy anthology Inside No. 9); and Heidi Thomas (period drama Call the Midwife) – discussing their craft.

Otherwise known as the ‘Balaclava Man’, Corbett and Lisa McQueen (Rochenda Sandall) are on AC-12’s wanted list, and set to cause trouble as part of a criminal syndicate connected to police corruption.

BBC One police corruption drama Line of Duty has become renowned for its thrilling plot twists and guest leads.

So, it was no surprise to see so many attend an RTS “Anatomy of a hit” event to hear what writer Jed Mercurio might reveal about what’s in store for the next series.

Speaking at an Anatomy of a Hit event dedicated to the police corruption series, Mercurio revealed he has written the first couple of episodes of season five, which is due to air next year.

He said of the next series: “It feels like things we haven’t done before, characters we haven’t seen before and that’s part of the construction of the series; the architecture that allows us to rejuvenate the format.

Now's a great time to get into writing for TV. There have never been more opportunities for scripted programming. To stand out from the crowd, an idea should seem original and distinctive.

While the breadth of programming has increased, the traditional formats have remained dominant. Your writing should fit the standard models for a mini-series, a serial or an episodic series; 30 minutes for comedy, 60 minutes for drama.