Festival Film and Television was founded in 1992 by independent producer, Ray Marshall.

Between 1992 and 2001, Festival produced 15 mini-series for ITV, based on novels by the best-selling author Catherine Cookson. This hugely successful franchise not only attracted large audiences but also some of the cream of British acting talent. Among its most successful productions were The Cinder Path starring Catherine Zeta Jones, The Gambling Man starring Robson Green, The Glass Virgin starring Emily Mortimer and Nigel Havers and The Wingless Bird starring Claire Skinner and Julian Wadham. Other productions have starred Sean Bean, James Fox, Janet McTeer, Art Malik, Bob Peck, Simon Shepherd, Ian Bannen, Denholm Elliot, Samantha Bond and many more.