diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 84711de44..5de819ea1 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+Synapse 1.20.1 (2020-09-24)
+===========================
+
+Bugfixes
+--------
+
+- Fix a bug introduced in v1.20.0 which caused the `synapse_port_db` script to fail. ([\#8386](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/8386))
+- Fix a bug introduced in v1.20.0 which caused variables to be incorrectly escaped in Jinja2 templates. ([\#8394](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/8394))
+
+
 Synapse 1.20.0 (2020-09-22)
 ===========================
 
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index ae548f9f3..264ef9ce7 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+matrix-synapse-py3 (1.20.1) stable; urgency=medium
+
+  * New synapse release 1.20.1.
+
+ -- Synapse Packaging team <packages@matrix.org>  Thu, 24 Sep 2020 16:25:22 +0100
+
 matrix-synapse-py3 (1.20.0) stable; urgency=medium
 
   [ Synapse Packaging team ]
diff --git a/synapse/__init__.py b/synapse/__init__.py
index 8242d05f6..e40b582bd 100644
--- a/synapse/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/__init__.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     pass
 
-__version__ = "1.20.0"
+__version__ = "1.20.1"
 
 if bool(os.environ.get("SYNAPSE_TEST_PATCH_LOG_CONTEXTS", False)):
     # We import here so that we don't have to install a bunch of deps when
diff --git a/synapse/config/_base.py b/synapse/config/_base.py
index bb9bf8598..05a66841c 100644
--- a/synapse/config/_base.py
+++ b/synapse/config/_base.py
@@ -194,7 +194,10 @@ class Config:
             return file_stream.read()
 
     def read_templates(
-        self, filenames: List[str], custom_template_directory: Optional[str] = None,
+        self,
+        filenames: List[str],
+        custom_template_directory: Optional[str] = None,
+        autoescape: bool = False,
     ) -> List[jinja2.Template]:
         """Load a list of template files from disk using the given variables.
 
@@ -210,6 +213,9 @@ class Config:
             custom_template_directory: A directory to try to look for the templates
                 before using the default Synapse template directory instead.
 
+            autoescape: Whether to autoescape variables before inserting them into the
+                template.
+
         Raises:
             ConfigError: if the file's path is incorrect or otherwise cannot be read.
 
@@ -233,7 +239,7 @@ class Config:
             search_directories.insert(0, custom_template_directory)
 
         loader = jinja2.FileSystemLoader(search_directories)
-        env = jinja2.Environment(loader=loader, autoescape=True)
+        env = jinja2.Environment(loader=loader, autoescape=autoescape)
 
         # Update the environment with our custom filters
         env.filters.update(