The Royal Television Society has announced the full programme of speakers, chairs and sessions for its biennial RTS London Convention 2026 with Wayne Garvie, Steven Knight CBE, Graham Norton, Nicola Shindler OBE and more lined up.
Joining the Convention’s agenda-setting programme, titled United in Change: If Not Now, When?, is comedian and broadcaster Graham Norton – appearing in-conversation with broadcaster Tina Daheley to explore his three-decade-long television career. In addition, writer, executive producer and director Steven Knight CBE will reflect on the creativity at the heart of the UK industry 10 years after he first dreamed of setting up his production facility Digbeth Loc., and share insight into his new writing projects; and industry heavyweights Jane Featherstone, Co-Founder and CCO, SISTER; Tim Hincks, Co-CEO, Expectation; and Nicola Shindler OBE, Founder & CEO, Quay Street Productions, are set for an interactive panel examining the evolving role of a producer today.
As Principal Sponsor, Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios will host a fireside chat featuring Nicole Clemens, Head of UK and International Originals, Amazon MGM Studios; and Kelly Day, Vice President, International, Prime Video.
Sony Pictures Television’s President, International Production Wayne Garvie and Roku UK’s Country Manager Richard Halton will debate the industry’s future and the strategies needed to survive – with a mirror session where young industry professionals Queenie Miller, Development Producer, Hat Trick Productions and Tobi Olujinmi, Founder and Executive Producer, Hill 5.14, share their vision for the future. Additionally, the Convention will see music guru and entrepreneur Tommas Arnby in conversation with the RTS’s CEO Sophie Jones, exploring what we can learn from success in the music industry.
Other sessions in the programme include Matt Brittin CBE, Director-General of the BBC in conversation with broadcaster Kirsty Young, and Executive Editorial Director, Fortune, Europe and the Middle East Kamal Ahmed’s conversation exploring the media/sport interface with panellists looking at the business of sport and owning rights, how to engage with audiences and develop monetisable content. Closing the Convention, the team behind Prime Video’s breakout comedy series Last One Laughing, including comedian and Last One Laughing star Lou Sanders, will highlight the success of the series with a session featuring a rendition of a classic Last One Laughing challenge.
Sophie Jones, CEO of the Royal Television Society, said: “It’s a privilege to be welcoming the industry to my first RTS Convention as CEO, with a line-up that brings together exceptional speakers and sessions in a vibrant programme that reflects the biggest opportunities and challenges facing our industry today. At a time when the sector is navigating profound change, one of my priorities at the RTS will be to explore how we can best collaborate across TV and beyond, and so this year’s theme of unity is exactly the right focus. I’m looking forward to welcoming our delegates and speakers to what I know will be a highly engaging and invaluable event.”
Tara Erer, Head of Northern Europe and Film & Unscripted, UK, Amazon MGM Studios, said: “We’re just weeks away from what promises to be an exciting day for our industry. The programme we’ve built together reflects both the challenges and opportunities ahead of us. We’ve brought together some of the industry’s brightest voices to discuss how we turn this moment of challenge into lasting, positive change.”
Jon Creamer
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