How David Beckham & Denis Leary Defined London’s Big TV Industry Week

London’s big week in the international TV sun has come to an end, with not one, not two, but three major events running in parallel. MIP London made its debut at the swanky Savoy Hotel and IET conference center, the well-established London TV Screenings were back and bigger than ever, and the gig that began it all, the BBC Studios Showcase was once again in town. We’ve rounded up five faces who defined the week, from big American stars in town with the U.S. studios to the market creators taking a shot at glory.

Denis Leary: American Stand-Up Royalty In The Big Smoke

As noted above, the Screenings wouldn’t be complete without a bit of star power from the other side of the Atlantic and this came in the form of stand-up royalty Denis Leary (also see Kelsey Grammer in town for crypto drama Paper Empire). Leary was in London with Fox promoting Catherine Tate-starring comedy series Going Dutch, which is about a U.S. Colonel who is sent to the “least important Army base in the world.” The ten-part network series has a traditional laughs-a-minute comedy feel to it (albeit with less episodes than those of yesteryear) and Leary was loving life as he sat down with buyers and press to talk about a show that Fox Entertainment Group is hoping will light up the international market over the coming months. Given its title, a Screenings-week Going Dutch sale to Talpa in the Netherlands felt rather unsurprising. Fox was out in full force all week alongside American majors like NBCUniversal, Lionsgate and Warner Bros. Discovery.

David Beckham: Standing Room Only For Golden Balls

If you didn’t arrive early, you weren’t getting a chance to see Golden Balls, whose first agenda item was underpants. When MIP London revealed several weeks back it had landed soccer superstar David Beckham and Netflix content boss Bela Bajaria the industry was suitably impressed, and the pair didn’t disappoint. An audible buzz could be heard Tuesday morning as the IET prepared for the arrival of one of the world’s most recognizable superstars and Beckham was on hand to talk an audience of hundreds through his ripped Hugo Boss ad training routine, his dislike of UK drama shows and thoughts on the future of his Studio 99 banner. The crowd hung on his every word. With Beckham and Bajaria going off without a hitch, MIP London has set itself a high keynote banner for 2026. Has their success increased the chances of an own goal?

Mark Gatiss: Cozy Crime’s Latest Leading Man

Mark Gatiss pulled in a serious crowd as he spoke to buyers at Beta Film’s screening for Bookish, the new detective series he created and stars in. With a twisty whodunnit playing out across every two episodes in the eight-part series, it serves up a healthy dose of on-trend cozy crime, but the portrayal of post-war London as a kind of modern Wild West offers edge. And lead character Gabriel Book’s ‘lavender marriage’ (in which a gay person is wedded to a heterosexual partner) to his wife Trotty opens up storylines on being a gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal. Gatiss had a twinkle in his eye as he talked about his series. It’s clearly close to his heart, and the writer and actor, whose work spans Sherlock, Dracula, Doctor Who and more, was warmly received. Buyers got a first look at a show that has all the ingredients to be an international success and Gatiss told Deadline he wants to do more. “I’d like to continue,” he said after Beta’s screening. “I’ve got hundreds of ideas.”

Lucy Smith: Mip London’s Leader Strives For Unity

Going into this week, all the industry chatter concerned why MIP London had even been set up in the first place. Cannes’ MIPTV had been killed off thanks to the lack of buyers in town and subsequent ROI depletion for sellers, and there were similar concerns over the new event in the UK. It’s probably too early to say whether Lucy Smith’s pre-market campaign was successful, and there were certainly reports of stands lacking activity or buyers being in short supply, but most conference sessions at the Savoy and IET London were packed and there were enough important faces around to suggest there’s potential for 2026. Figures released by RX France, MIP’s parent, today claim more than 2,800 execs from 80 countries attended, including more than 1,000 buyers. Smith has said the debut “exceeded expectations” and vowed MIP London would be back next year. Her presence at various London TV Screenings events, cheerfully networking with senior execs and marketing bosses, was a clear olive branch to a group of distribution behemoths who, in honesty, would probably prefer MIP London didn’t exist. “Our plan has always been to complement existing events, and I thank everyone who came and engaged with the market,” said Smith today.

Pedro Pina: Setting Out YouTube’s Industry Pitch

YouTube was in town with a message to producers and content owners: ‘We want you on our platform, and we want you to lead that journey.’ A packed Kelvin Lecture Theatre at the IET heard Pedro Pina, YouTube’s VP for EMEA, make that case during a lively interview with everyone’s favorite media cartographer, Evan Shapiro. The headline takeaway, beyond a reminder that connected TV now drives more YouTube viewing than mobile devices, was Pina categorically ruling out a return to original production. “The news inside the news is we have no interest whatsoever in producing our own content,” he told the audience, noting that “experiments” of the past had not worked. You could argue the tens of millions spent on the likes of Cobra Kai, Step Up: High Water, Weird City and Origin is more than just ‘experimentation,’ but then YouTube parent Google did Q4 2024 revenues of almost $100B, so what do we know?