Edinburgh Festival Fringe has become 'great monster', Two Doors Down star tells Baby Reindeer-linked venue

Speaking at an industry panel event at Shedinburgh on Monday, the new Fringe venue spearheaded by Baby Reindeer producer Francesca Moody, Mr Hodgson said “professionalisation” of the festival had changed its character.

The panel, which included Mr Hodgson and comedian Rajiv Karia, alongside producers Owen Donovan and Phoebe Bourke, also warned the rising costs of visiting the Fringe made audience members less likely to take risks on the shows they see, with established TV comedians more likely to sell tickets.

In response to a question from panel host and Berk’s Nest co-founder Ms Bourke, who asked whether the Fringe was “still what it started out to be in terms of ethos”, in terms of being “accessible to everyone and not exclusive in any way”, Mr Hodgson said he believed the event had changed dramatically in ethos over the past decade.

He said: “You can find it [the ethos], but it’s not the overall character of it. It’s the beast. It’s the great monster now.

“It dwarfs the entire International Festival, it dwarfs everything. Because there’s a lot of money involved and also because it’s seven-and-a-half decades old, people have gamed it. People have worked out how to organise it in such a way that certain things thrive and certain things don’t thrive.

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“It’s not just five rooms and people are turning up and giving it a go with something they wrote a month or so ago. To succeed here, you plan it two years in advance. There’s so much professionalisation that’s happened everywhere. Ten years ago, I think you could find that spirit during the shows when I was doing the free Fringe.”

Mr Donovan said his company, Berk’s Nest, and others like it had professionalised Fringe production, operating as year-round organisations and taking financial risks on behalf of a small number of artists.

He said: “If the question is ‘do we think the original ethos of the Fringe still remains’, the answer is no and we are somewhat responsible. Effectively, what has happened over the last ten years is that us and companies like us, where largely producers in the Fringe didn’t exist and in a decade of us professionalising ourselves as an organisation, we have effectively come in as commercial producers.

“Organisations like us have changed that ethos and we’re much closer to how the companies that set up the International Festival were operating, rather than the ones who were behind the Fringe on the side.”

Ms Bourke warned the rising cost of visiting the Fringe meant the audience was made up of “a very particular type of person who can afford to be here”.

Mr Donovan said: “They are seeing fewer shows each day and taking fewer risks. Buying in advance for somebody off the telly, then there may be a second show that has been recommended by the press or by somebody they know. Then it will be £30 on pints and £30 on food, so they’re not going to see a third show.”