John Caughie
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198742197
- eISBN:
- 9780191694981
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198742197.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This book offers an account of British television drama from its origins in live studio drama in the prewar and immediate postwar years, through the Golden Age of the single play in the 1960s and ...
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This book offers an account of British television drama from its origins in live studio drama in the prewar and immediate postwar years, through the Golden Age of the single play in the 1960s and 1970s, to its convergence with an emerging British art cinema in the 1990s. It relates the development of television drama to movements which were going on within the culture. In particular, it is concerned with a series of arguments and debates about politics and form which centred around issues of immediacy and naturalism, realism and modernism in public culture. The book addresses contemporary television in the form of the television film and the classic serial, and raises new questions about such issues as adaptation and acting. The importance of the book lies in its attempt to place television drama at the centre of late twentieth-century British culture and to relate the criticism of television drama to a wider history of aesthetic debates and arguments.Less
This book offers an account of British television drama from its origins in live studio drama in the prewar and immediate postwar years, through the Golden Age of the single play in the 1960s and 1970s, to its convergence with an emerging British art cinema in the 1990s. It relates the development of television drama to movements which were going on within the culture. In particular, it is concerned with a series of arguments and debates about politics and form which centred around issues of immediacy and naturalism, realism and modernism in public culture. The book addresses contemporary television in the form of the television film and the classic serial, and raises new questions about such issues as adaptation and acting. The importance of the book lies in its attempt to place television drama at the centre of late twentieth-century British culture and to relate the criticism of television drama to a wider history of aesthetic debates and arguments.
John Caughie
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198742197
- eISBN:
- 9780191694981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198742197.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
The period between 1965 and 1975 is considered to be the golden age of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s television drama. The 1960s and the 1970s marked the shift in values and culture of ...
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The period between 1965 and 1975 is considered to be the golden age of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s television drama. The 1960s and the 1970s marked the shift in values and culture of British television. During these times, the established traditions were questioned and rewritten and the tastefulness of TV programs altered. The boundaries of creativity were also transgressed in this era of British television. This chapter highlights several television dramas and a number of plays which tested the boundaries of British programming and contributed to its eventual development.Less
The period between 1965 and 1975 is considered to be the golden age of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s television drama. The 1960s and the 1970s marked the shift in values and culture of British television. During these times, the established traditions were questioned and rewritten and the tastefulness of TV programs altered. The boundaries of creativity were also transgressed in this era of British television. This chapter highlights several television dramas and a number of plays which tested the boundaries of British programming and contributed to its eventual development.
Darrell M. Newton
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719081675
- eISBN:
- 9781781702840
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719081675.003.0033
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Television
This chapter focuses on interviews that feature the contemporary perspectives of Black Britons working within the London television market. Issues for discussion with the interviewees included ...
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This chapter focuses on interviews that feature the contemporary perspectives of Black Britons working within the London television market. Issues for discussion with the interviewees included representations of race and class, programming and opportunities for minorities, empowerment and opportunity, Americanisation as an influence, the birth of Black-owned Identity Television, presence, diversity and the future of Black Britons on BBC television. Subjects include recent BBC Director of Multicultural Programming Jan Oliver, cultural critic Stuart Hall, actor Treva Etienne, journalist Neema Kambona, BBC presenter Brenda Emmanus, journalist Kadija George-Sesay and BBC Diversity Manager Cyril Husbands. Follow-up interviews years later continue these discussions of, among other issues, newer programmes, current representations, and future possibilities for diverse programming. By comparison, their concerns exemplify the challenges still facing these professionals of colour when dealing with the hegemony and patronage of the BBC and the British television industry. Through a series of open-ended questions, media professionals comment on the BBC and its broadcast policies. These discussions occurred within the 1990s and were considered a turning point by some for racial representations on British television. Each question and subsequent response reflect decades of personal experiences with the service.Less
This chapter focuses on interviews that feature the contemporary perspectives of Black Britons working within the London television market. Issues for discussion with the interviewees included representations of race and class, programming and opportunities for minorities, empowerment and opportunity, Americanisation as an influence, the birth of Black-owned Identity Television, presence, diversity and the future of Black Britons on BBC television. Subjects include recent BBC Director of Multicultural Programming Jan Oliver, cultural critic Stuart Hall, actor Treva Etienne, journalist Neema Kambona, BBC presenter Brenda Emmanus, journalist Kadija George-Sesay and BBC Diversity Manager Cyril Husbands. Follow-up interviews years later continue these discussions of, among other issues, newer programmes, current representations, and future possibilities for diverse programming. By comparison, their concerns exemplify the challenges still facing these professionals of colour when dealing with the hegemony and patronage of the BBC and the British television industry. Through a series of open-ended questions, media professionals comment on the BBC and its broadcast policies. These discussions occurred within the 1990s and were considered a turning point by some for racial representations on British television. Each question and subsequent response reflect decades of personal experiences with the service.
Jochen Ecke and Patrick Gill
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781628462340
- eISBN:
- 9781626746787
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781628462340.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, Comics Studies
British superheroes draw from a distinctive local tradition of superhero media. A look at the long tradition of portrayals of superheroes in British media suggests that these superheroes offer a ...
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British superheroes draw from a distinctive local tradition of superhero media. A look at the long tradition of portrayals of superheroes in British media suggests that these superheroes offer a different interpretation of the phenomenon that undermines classic and - by implication - American concepts of superheroes. For the past 40 years, most British television shows concerned with the adventures of superheroes have taken a keen interest in the corrupting, comedic or downright ridiculous aspects of a world in which certain individuals are endowed with superhuman powers. This chapter offers an historical account of British superheroes and analyzes three contemporary superhero shows in detail - My Hero (2000-2006), No Heroics (2008), and Misfits (from 2009) – thereby producing a taxonomy of British television responses to the superhero phenomenon.Less
British superheroes draw from a distinctive local tradition of superhero media. A look at the long tradition of portrayals of superheroes in British media suggests that these superheroes offer a different interpretation of the phenomenon that undermines classic and - by implication - American concepts of superheroes. For the past 40 years, most British television shows concerned with the adventures of superheroes have taken a keen interest in the corrupting, comedic or downright ridiculous aspects of a world in which certain individuals are endowed with superhuman powers. This chapter offers an historical account of British superheroes and analyzes three contemporary superhero shows in detail - My Hero (2000-2006), No Heroics (2008), and Misfits (from 2009) – thereby producing a taxonomy of British television responses to the superhero phenomenon.
Stephen Lacey
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719066283
- eISBN:
- 9781781702529
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719066283.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Television
This is a book-length study of one of the most respected and prolific producers working in British television. From ground-breaking dramas from the 1960s such as Up the Junction and Cathy Come Home ...
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This is a book-length study of one of the most respected and prolific producers working in British television. From ground-breaking dramas from the 1960s such as Up the Junction and Cathy Come Home to the ‘must-see’ series in the 1990s and 2000s such as This Life and The Cops, Tony Garnett has produced some of the most important and influential British television drama. This book charts his career from his early days as an actor to his position as executive producer and head of World Productions, focusing on the ways in which he has helped to define the role of the creative producer, shaping the distinctive politics and aesthetics of the drama he has produced, and enabling and facilitating the contributions of others. Garnett's distinctive contribution to the development of a social realist aesthetic is also examined, through the documentary-inspired early single plays to the subversion of genre within popular drama series.Less
This is a book-length study of one of the most respected and prolific producers working in British television. From ground-breaking dramas from the 1960s such as Up the Junction and Cathy Come Home to the ‘must-see’ series in the 1990s and 2000s such as This Life and The Cops, Tony Garnett has produced some of the most important and influential British television drama. This book charts his career from his early days as an actor to his position as executive producer and head of World Productions, focusing on the ways in which he has helped to define the role of the creative producer, shaping the distinctive politics and aesthetics of the drama he has produced, and enabling and facilitating the contributions of others. Garnett's distinctive contribution to the development of a social realist aesthetic is also examined, through the documentary-inspired early single plays to the subversion of genre within popular drama series.
Frances Galt
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781529206296
- eISBN:
- 9781529214475
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781529206296.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
This book contributes to important discussions on gender inequality in the present-day film and television industries and labour movement through an historical analysis of women workers and their ...
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This book contributes to important discussions on gender inequality in the present-day film and television industries and labour movement through an historical analysis of women workers and their trade union in the British film and television industries from 1933 to 2017. This book concentrates on the three iterations of the technicians’ union: the Association of Cine-Technicians (ACT) (1933-56), the Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians (ACTT) (1957-91), and the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union (BECTU) (1991-2017). Drawing on previously unseen archival material and oral history interviews with activists, it casts new light on women’s experiences of union participation and feminism over nine decades. This book advances three key arguments in relation to its central themes: the operation of a gendered union structure, women’s activism, and the relationship between class and gender in the labour movement. Firstly, it argues that a gendered union structure was institutionalised from the union’s establishment and maintained through a belief system that women’s issues were not trade union issues. Secondly, it argues that separate self-organisation was essential to women’s activity within the gendered union structure as it provided an essential space and voice for women to discuss their gender-specific concerns, develop consciousness and skills and formulate policy. It further emphasises the importance of external feminist allies to women’s union activity. Thirdly, it argues that class differences between middle-class women in film and television production and working-class women in the laboratories informed the direction of women’s activity at its height during the 1970s and 1980s.Less
This book contributes to important discussions on gender inequality in the present-day film and television industries and labour movement through an historical analysis of women workers and their trade union in the British film and television industries from 1933 to 2017. This book concentrates on the three iterations of the technicians’ union: the Association of Cine-Technicians (ACT) (1933-56), the Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians (ACTT) (1957-91), and the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union (BECTU) (1991-2017). Drawing on previously unseen archival material and oral history interviews with activists, it casts new light on women’s experiences of union participation and feminism over nine decades. This book advances three key arguments in relation to its central themes: the operation of a gendered union structure, women’s activism, and the relationship between class and gender in the labour movement. Firstly, it argues that a gendered union structure was institutionalised from the union’s establishment and maintained through a belief system that women’s issues were not trade union issues. Secondly, it argues that separate self-organisation was essential to women’s activity within the gendered union structure as it provided an essential space and voice for women to discuss their gender-specific concerns, develop consciousness and skills and formulate policy. It further emphasises the importance of external feminist allies to women’s union activity. Thirdly, it argues that class differences between middle-class women in film and television production and working-class women in the laboratories informed the direction of women’s activity at its height during the 1970s and 1980s.
Kristyn Gorton
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748624171
- eISBN:
- 9780748670956
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748624171.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
An engaging and original study of current research on television audiences and the concept of emotion, this book offers a unique approach to key issues within television studies. Topics discussed ...
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An engaging and original study of current research on television audiences and the concept of emotion, this book offers a unique approach to key issues within television studies. Topics discussed include: television branding; emotional qualities in television texts; audience reception models; fan cultures; 'quality' television; television aesthetics; reality television; individualism and its links to television consumption. The book is divided into two sections: the first covers theoretical work on the audience, fan cultures, global television, theorising emotion and affect in feminist theory and film and television studies. The second half offers a series of case studies on television programmes in order to explore how emotion is fashioned, constructed and valued in televisual texts. The final chapter features original material from interviews with industry professionals in the UK and Irish Soap industries along with advice for students on how to conduct their own small-scale ethnographic projects.Less
An engaging and original study of current research on television audiences and the concept of emotion, this book offers a unique approach to key issues within television studies. Topics discussed include: television branding; emotional qualities in television texts; audience reception models; fan cultures; 'quality' television; television aesthetics; reality television; individualism and its links to television consumption. The book is divided into two sections: the first covers theoretical work on the audience, fan cultures, global television, theorising emotion and affect in feminist theory and film and television studies. The second half offers a series of case studies on television programmes in order to explore how emotion is fashioned, constructed and valued in televisual texts. The final chapter features original material from interviews with industry professionals in the UK and Irish Soap industries along with advice for students on how to conduct their own small-scale ethnographic projects.
Darrell M. Newton
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719081675
- eISBN:
- 9781781702840
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719081675.003.0010
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Television
This chapter explores a multitude of publications on British television history that have both hailed and deconstructed the policies and influences of the BBC. Since 1922, the organisation has ...
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This chapter explores a multitude of publications on British television history that have both hailed and deconstructed the policies and influences of the BBC. Since 1922, the organisation has attempted to serve audiences with an intention to inform and acculturate them on every subject deemed acceptable. Within its development, a public service agenda was an essential part of programming practices, influenced greatly by Sir John Reith, who, despite his extreme dislike for both politicians and television, later served as the Director-General of the organisation during its first sixteen years of service. Prior to his departure in 1938, the first public demonstration of the Baird Television System took place and audiences had a choice of musical variety programmes, and a host of dramatic teleplays and informational talks, each demonstrating the ability of television to hopefully do what BBC radio had done for nearly fifteen years: entertain and inform a variety of publics on current, global and national events.Less
This chapter explores a multitude of publications on British television history that have both hailed and deconstructed the policies and influences of the BBC. Since 1922, the organisation has attempted to serve audiences with an intention to inform and acculturate them on every subject deemed acceptable. Within its development, a public service agenda was an essential part of programming practices, influenced greatly by Sir John Reith, who, despite his extreme dislike for both politicians and television, later served as the Director-General of the organisation during its first sixteen years of service. Prior to his departure in 1938, the first public demonstration of the Baird Television System took place and audiences had a choice of musical variety programmes, and a host of dramatic teleplays and informational talks, each demonstrating the ability of television to hopefully do what BBC radio had done for nearly fifteen years: entertain and inform a variety of publics on current, global and national events.
Lez Cooke
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780719086786
- eISBN:
- 9781781706329
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719086786.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Television
This pioneering study examines regional British television drama from its beginnings on the BBC and ITV in the 1950s to the arrival of Channel Four in 1982. It discusses the ways in which ...
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This pioneering study examines regional British television drama from its beginnings on the BBC and ITV in the 1950s to the arrival of Channel Four in 1982. It discusses the ways in which regionalism, regional culture and regional identity have been defined historically, outlines the history of regional broadcasting in the UK, and includes two detailed case studies – of Granada Television and BBC English Regions Drama – representing contrasting examples of regional television drama production during what is often described as the ‘golden age’ of British television. The conclusion brings the study up to date by discussing recent developments in regional drama production, and by considering future possibilities. A Sense of Place is based on original research and draws on interviews by the author with writers, producers, directors and executives including John Finch, Denis Forman, Alan Plater, David Rose, Philip Saville and Herbert Wise. It analyses a wide range of television plays, series and serials, including many previously given little attention such as The Younger Generation (1961), The Villains (1964-65), City ’68 (1967-68), Second City Firsts (1973-78), Trinity Tales (1975) and Empire Road (1978-79). Written in a scholarly but accessible style the book uncovers a forgotten history of British television drama that will be of interest to lecturers and students of television, media and cultural studies, as well as the general reader with an interest in the history of British television.Less
This pioneering study examines regional British television drama from its beginnings on the BBC and ITV in the 1950s to the arrival of Channel Four in 1982. It discusses the ways in which regionalism, regional culture and regional identity have been defined historically, outlines the history of regional broadcasting in the UK, and includes two detailed case studies – of Granada Television and BBC English Regions Drama – representing contrasting examples of regional television drama production during what is often described as the ‘golden age’ of British television. The conclusion brings the study up to date by discussing recent developments in regional drama production, and by considering future possibilities. A Sense of Place is based on original research and draws on interviews by the author with writers, producers, directors and executives including John Finch, Denis Forman, Alan Plater, David Rose, Philip Saville and Herbert Wise. It analyses a wide range of television plays, series and serials, including many previously given little attention such as The Younger Generation (1961), The Villains (1964-65), City ’68 (1967-68), Second City Firsts (1973-78), Trinity Tales (1975) and Empire Road (1978-79). Written in a scholarly but accessible style the book uncovers a forgotten history of British television drama that will be of interest to lecturers and students of television, media and cultural studies, as well as the general reader with an interest in the history of British television.
Jonathan Bignell
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719064203
- eISBN:
- 9781781701867
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719064203.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter discusses the formation of and the critical response to a canon of British television drama in terms of a conflict between aesthetic modernism and critical realism. It notes that some of ...
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This chapter discusses the formation of and the critical response to a canon of British television drama in terms of a conflict between aesthetic modernism and critical realism. It notes that some of the critics' responses to Beckett's work in the 1970s reflected the critical debate of the time over the politics of naturalistic versus avant-garde form. It determines that Beckett's television plays are placed within a complex dialectic of critical discourses around the aesthetics and politics of television drama, and part of this debate is about the address to the television audience. Finally, this chapter tries to link critical work on Beckett's television plays with discursive models of how television audiences were imagined by critics, television institutions and authors.Less
This chapter discusses the formation of and the critical response to a canon of British television drama in terms of a conflict between aesthetic modernism and critical realism. It notes that some of the critics' responses to Beckett's work in the 1970s reflected the critical debate of the time over the politics of naturalistic versus avant-garde form. It determines that Beckett's television plays are placed within a complex dialectic of critical discourses around the aesthetics and politics of television drama, and part of this debate is about the address to the television audience. Finally, this chapter tries to link critical work on Beckett's television plays with discursive models of how television audiences were imagined by critics, television institutions and authors.
Darrell M. Newton
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719081675
- eISBN:
- 9781781702840
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719081675.003.0013
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Television
This chapter examines how BBC radio and its practices created possibilities for the recognition of African-Caribbean voices, as they discussed life in England years before the arrival of Windrush, ...
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This chapter examines how BBC radio and its practices created possibilities for the recognition of African-Caribbean voices, as they discussed life in England years before the arrival of Windrush, and just before television re-emerged as a cultural force. It also examines how programmes created for West Indian audiences changed foci, and began to offer varied, personal perspectives on life for African-Caribbean immigrants. It outlines the influence of radio upon the BBC Television Service, management directives and pre-war programming. Beginning in 1939, the programme Calling the West Indies featured West Indians troops on active service reading letters on air to their families back home in the Islands. The programme later became Caribbean Voices (1943–58) and highlighted West Indian writers who read and discussed literary works on the World Service. These programmes offered rare opportunities for West Indians to discuss their perspectives on life among white Britons and subsequent social issues.Less
This chapter examines how BBC radio and its practices created possibilities for the recognition of African-Caribbean voices, as they discussed life in England years before the arrival of Windrush, and just before television re-emerged as a cultural force. It also examines how programmes created for West Indian audiences changed foci, and began to offer varied, personal perspectives on life for African-Caribbean immigrants. It outlines the influence of radio upon the BBC Television Service, management directives and pre-war programming. Beginning in 1939, the programme Calling the West Indies featured West Indians troops on active service reading letters on air to their families back home in the Islands. The programme later became Caribbean Voices (1943–58) and highlighted West Indian writers who read and discussed literary works on the World Service. These programmes offered rare opportunities for West Indians to discuss their perspectives on life among white Britons and subsequent social issues.
Lez Cooke
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719067020
- eISBN:
- 9781781702055
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719067020.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Television
This book provides a full-length study of the screenwriter Troy Kennedy Martin, whose work for film and television includes Z Cars, The Italian Job, Kelly's Heroes, The Sweeney, Reilly—Ace of Spies ...
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This book provides a full-length study of the screenwriter Troy Kennedy Martin, whose work for film and television includes Z Cars, The Italian Job, Kelly's Heroes, The Sweeney, Reilly—Ace of Spies and Edge of Darkness. With a career spanning six decades, Kennedy Martin has seen the rise and fall of the television dramatist, making his debut in the era of studio-based television drama in the late 1950s. This was prior to the transition to filmed drama (for which he argued in a famous manifesto), as the television play was gradually replaced by popular series and serials, for which Kennedy Martin, of course, created some of his best work.Less
This book provides a full-length study of the screenwriter Troy Kennedy Martin, whose work for film and television includes Z Cars, The Italian Job, Kelly's Heroes, The Sweeney, Reilly—Ace of Spies and Edge of Darkness. With a career spanning six decades, Kennedy Martin has seen the rise and fall of the television dramatist, making his debut in the era of studio-based television drama in the late 1950s. This was prior to the transition to filmed drama (for which he argued in a famous manifesto), as the television play was gradually replaced by popular series and serials, for which Kennedy Martin, of course, created some of his best work.
Steve Blandford
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780719082481
- eISBN:
- 9781781705759
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719082481.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Television
This is the first book-length study of one of the most significant of all British television writers, Jimmy McGovern. The book provides comprehensive coverage of all his work for television including ...
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This is the first book-length study of one of the most significant of all British television writers, Jimmy McGovern. The book provides comprehensive coverage of all his work for television including early writing on Brookside, major documentary dramas such as Hillsborough and Sunday and more recent series such as The Street and Accused. Whilst the book is firmly focused on McGovern’s own work, the range of his output over the period in which he has been working also provides something of an overview of the radical changes in television drama commissioning that have taken place during this time. Without compromising his deeply-held convictions McGovern has managed to adapt to an ever changing environment, often using his position as a sought-after writer to defy industry trends. The book also challenges the notion of McGovern as an uncomplicated social realist in stylistic terms. Looking particularly at his later work, a case is made for McGovern employing a greater range of narrative approaches, albeit subtly and within boundaries that allow him to continue to write for large popular audiences. Finally it is worth pointing to the book’s examination of McGovern’s role in recent years as a mentor to new voices, frequently acting as a creative producer on series that he part-writes and part brings through different less-experienced names.Less
This is the first book-length study of one of the most significant of all British television writers, Jimmy McGovern. The book provides comprehensive coverage of all his work for television including early writing on Brookside, major documentary dramas such as Hillsborough and Sunday and more recent series such as The Street and Accused. Whilst the book is firmly focused on McGovern’s own work, the range of his output over the period in which he has been working also provides something of an overview of the radical changes in television drama commissioning that have taken place during this time. Without compromising his deeply-held convictions McGovern has managed to adapt to an ever changing environment, often using his position as a sought-after writer to defy industry trends. The book also challenges the notion of McGovern as an uncomplicated social realist in stylistic terms. Looking particularly at his later work, a case is made for McGovern employing a greater range of narrative approaches, albeit subtly and within boundaries that allow him to continue to write for large popular audiences. Finally it is worth pointing to the book’s examination of McGovern’s role in recent years as a mentor to new voices, frequently acting as a creative producer on series that he part-writes and part brings through different less-experienced names.
Sue Vice
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719077043
- eISBN:
- 9781781703144
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719077043.003.0026
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Television
This chapter provides a profile of the television-series writer and creator Jack Rosenthal, who was born in 1931 in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, the second son of Sam and Leah. His parents were working ...
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This chapter provides a profile of the television-series writer and creator Jack Rosenthal, who was born in 1931 in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, the second son of Sam and Leah. His parents were working class and Jewish, elements of his background that characterised all his work. Rosenthal was delighted to be commissioned in 1961 to write for Coronation Street, a soap opera set in a milieu he knew well. Almost everything for which his writing became famous stems from Coronation Street, including his interest in the underprivileged and the underdog, and their salty, everyday discourse and Englishness. Rosenthal's career paralleled and was integral to a formative period in the history of British television drama and he worked for the independent television company Granada before becoming a freelance writer in 1962. Throughout his career, his writing was characterised by the same kinds of comic verbal trope. Despite his many industry awards and nominations, Rosenthal's archive contains several examples of plays that were never televised or filmed.Less
This chapter provides a profile of the television-series writer and creator Jack Rosenthal, who was born in 1931 in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, the second son of Sam and Leah. His parents were working class and Jewish, elements of his background that characterised all his work. Rosenthal was delighted to be commissioned in 1961 to write for Coronation Street, a soap opera set in a milieu he knew well. Almost everything for which his writing became famous stems from Coronation Street, including his interest in the underprivileged and the underdog, and their salty, everyday discourse and Englishness. Rosenthal's career paralleled and was integral to a formative period in the history of British television drama and he worked for the independent television company Granada before becoming a freelance writer in 1962. Throughout his career, his writing was characterised by the same kinds of comic verbal trope. Despite his many industry awards and nominations, Rosenthal's archive contains several examples of plays that were never televised or filmed.
Neil Archer
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780993238406
- eISBN:
- 9781800341951
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9780993238406.003.0004
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter examines to what extent one may identify Hot Fuzz (2007) as an example of British national cinema. Hot Fuzz's use of relocated genre parody means that it addresses its audience in ...
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This chapter examines to what extent one may identify Hot Fuzz (2007) as an example of British national cinema. Hot Fuzz's use of relocated genre parody means that it addresses its audience in multiple but mutually reconcilable ways: as a ‘Hollywood’ movie that is not quite Hollywood, and as a ‘British’ movie that acknowledges the possible limitations of ‘British cinema’ as a concept. The chapter then identifies the ways in which Hot Fuzz references earlier examples of British television and cinema within its parodic references. The film makes significant narrative use of these inter-texts in ways that complicate the supposed direction of Hot Fuzz's parody towards American cinema. The chapter concludes that part of Hot Fuzz's appeal is the way it brings into focus various points of discussion about British cinema in the early twenty-first century, as well as offering an entertaining and economically viable response to these debates.Less
This chapter examines to what extent one may identify Hot Fuzz (2007) as an example of British national cinema. Hot Fuzz's use of relocated genre parody means that it addresses its audience in multiple but mutually reconcilable ways: as a ‘Hollywood’ movie that is not quite Hollywood, and as a ‘British’ movie that acknowledges the possible limitations of ‘British cinema’ as a concept. The chapter then identifies the ways in which Hot Fuzz references earlier examples of British television and cinema within its parodic references. The film makes significant narrative use of these inter-texts in ways that complicate the supposed direction of Hot Fuzz's parody towards American cinema. The chapter concludes that part of Hot Fuzz's appeal is the way it brings into focus various points of discussion about British cinema in the early twenty-first century, as well as offering an entertaining and economically viable response to these debates.
Joseph Oldham
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781784994150
- eISBN:
- 9781526128379
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781784994150.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Television
Paranoid Visions provides an extensive historical account of the spy and conspiracy genres in British television drama, tracing a lineage from 1960s Cold War series, through 1980s paranoid conspiracy ...
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Paranoid Visions provides an extensive historical account of the spy and conspiracy genres in British television drama, tracing a lineage from 1960s Cold War series, through 1980s paranoid conspiracy dramas, to contemporary ‘war on terror’ thrillers. It argues that the on-screen depictions of intelligence services can interpreted as metaphors for the production cultures that created the programmes, meditating on the roles and responsibilities of public institutions whose trade is information and ideas. It incorporates close analyses of classic series including Callan, The Sandbaggers, Edge of Darkness, A Very British Coup, Spooks and the BBC adaptation of John Le Carré’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, supported by new archival research. The account is positioned against aesthetic, institutional and technological shifts in British television drama as it transitioned from its traditional public service principles to the more commercial priorities of the multi-channel era, in particular examining the growth of long-form serial narratives in ‘quality’ television. It is also mapped closely to the real history of British intelligence through consideration of how such programmes responded to key scandals and exposés and counterblast campaigns of transparency and openness. Finally, it also situates these dramas against key issues in the history of British culture and national identity, including discourses of class politics, Cold War culture, the heritage industry, terrorism past and present, the decline of the social-democratic consensus, the growth of personal computing and the ascendance of the free market economy.Less
Paranoid Visions provides an extensive historical account of the spy and conspiracy genres in British television drama, tracing a lineage from 1960s Cold War series, through 1980s paranoid conspiracy dramas, to contemporary ‘war on terror’ thrillers. It argues that the on-screen depictions of intelligence services can interpreted as metaphors for the production cultures that created the programmes, meditating on the roles and responsibilities of public institutions whose trade is information and ideas. It incorporates close analyses of classic series including Callan, The Sandbaggers, Edge of Darkness, A Very British Coup, Spooks and the BBC adaptation of John Le Carré’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, supported by new archival research. The account is positioned against aesthetic, institutional and technological shifts in British television drama as it transitioned from its traditional public service principles to the more commercial priorities of the multi-channel era, in particular examining the growth of long-form serial narratives in ‘quality’ television. It is also mapped closely to the real history of British intelligence through consideration of how such programmes responded to key scandals and exposés and counterblast campaigns of transparency and openness. Finally, it also situates these dramas against key issues in the history of British culture and national identity, including discourses of class politics, Cold War culture, the heritage industry, terrorism past and present, the decline of the social-democratic consensus, the growth of personal computing and the ascendance of the free market economy.
Shirley Dex and Colin Smith
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781861343321
- eISBN:
- 9781447303824
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781861343321.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
Since the early 1980s, massive changes have occurred in the contractual status of the industry workforce of British television. Estimates in the early 1990s suggested that sixty per cent of the ...
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Since the early 1980s, massive changes have occurred in the contractual status of the industry workforce of British television. Estimates in the early 1990s suggested that sixty per cent of the workforce in British television were self-employed freelance or self-employed owners of small independent production companies. Since the 1970s, there has been a large growth in self-employment in Britain. Both women and men have seen an increase in this type of contractual working arrangement, although men have a larger number in this type of working arrangement than women. This chapter offers new insights into gender inequality over time as it is reflected in this growing form of employment status in the British economy. It explores the in- and out-of-work experiences of self-employed workers in television production in Britain in the 1990s. The chapter uses the data provided by the Television Industry Tracking Study (ITS), and examines some of the dynamic elements of employment experiences. The rest of the chapter summarises the research on self-employment based on cross-sectional data. The chapter then presents more details on the context of the changing structure of the television industry. It also discusses the models for employment continuity and the findings from modelling these elements of employment continuity of women and men working in the television industry.Less
Since the early 1980s, massive changes have occurred in the contractual status of the industry workforce of British television. Estimates in the early 1990s suggested that sixty per cent of the workforce in British television were self-employed freelance or self-employed owners of small independent production companies. Since the 1970s, there has been a large growth in self-employment in Britain. Both women and men have seen an increase in this type of contractual working arrangement, although men have a larger number in this type of working arrangement than women. This chapter offers new insights into gender inequality over time as it is reflected in this growing form of employment status in the British economy. It explores the in- and out-of-work experiences of self-employed workers in television production in Britain in the 1990s. The chapter uses the data provided by the Television Industry Tracking Study (ITS), and examines some of the dynamic elements of employment experiences. The rest of the chapter summarises the research on self-employment based on cross-sectional data. The chapter then presents more details on the context of the changing structure of the television industry. It also discusses the models for employment continuity and the findings from modelling these elements of employment continuity of women and men working in the television industry.
Tony Garnett
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719066283
- eISBN:
- 9781781702529
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719066283.003.0010
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Television
This is a study about Tony Garnett, forty-year actor, story editor and then producer, within the context of British television, film and Hollywood cinema. This chapter attempts to describe, explicate ...
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This is a study about Tony Garnett, forty-year actor, story editor and then producer, within the context of British television, film and Hollywood cinema. This chapter attempts to describe, explicate and analyse Garnett's work. Garnett has been responsible for a considerable variety of work, including some of the most influential plays and films in British television history. Garnett is one of a small group of television producers who have helped to define what being a television producer is. He is particularly hostile to ‘auteurism’, insisting that drama production is a collective practice, artistically and socially. Auteurism in its crudest form explains the creation of ‘significant’ drama as the product of a single, authorial consciousness. Garnett has worked in a variety of production contexts across the decades, and his role as producer has altered in the process. Garnett's authorial signature is intimately connected to a realist politics and aesthetics, which is still the best way of describing the spine that runs though his work. Realism, with its various qualifiers— social, magical, hyper—and its near-synonyms (notably naturalism), is a much-debated term in cultural criticism.Less
This is a study about Tony Garnett, forty-year actor, story editor and then producer, within the context of British television, film and Hollywood cinema. This chapter attempts to describe, explicate and analyse Garnett's work. Garnett has been responsible for a considerable variety of work, including some of the most influential plays and films in British television history. Garnett is one of a small group of television producers who have helped to define what being a television producer is. He is particularly hostile to ‘auteurism’, insisting that drama production is a collective practice, artistically and socially. Auteurism in its crudest form explains the creation of ‘significant’ drama as the product of a single, authorial consciousness. Garnett has worked in a variety of production contexts across the decades, and his role as producer has altered in the process. Garnett's authorial signature is intimately connected to a realist politics and aesthetics, which is still the best way of describing the spine that runs though his work. Realism, with its various qualifiers— social, magical, hyper—and its near-synonyms (notably naturalism), is a much-debated term in cultural criticism.
Troy Kennedy Martin
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719067020
- eISBN:
- 9781781702055
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719067020.003.0016
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Television
By the early 1960s, series drama was the most popular form of drama on British television. ITV had largely been responsible for this, for while the BBC had two very popular series, Dixon of Dock ...
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By the early 1960s, series drama was the most popular form of drama on British television. ITV had largely been responsible for this, for while the BBC had two very popular series, Dixon of Dock Green and Maigret. This chapter explains that Z Cars not only led the BBC fightback against ITV in the weekly ratings charts, it also marked a significant departure for the BBC in terms of popular programming. Launched on 2 January 1962, the series marked the arrival of a new kind of police drama, one conceived and developed in response to the cosy, reassuring image of policing represented by the BBC's own Dixon of Dock Green. This chapter states that the origins of Z Cars within the Documentary Drama Unit, together with Jones' insistence that it be set in the north, were key factors in the success of the new series. The combination of documentary realism and Kennedy Martin's fictional characterisation of the police undoubtedly contributed to the critical and popular success of Z Cars.Less
By the early 1960s, series drama was the most popular form of drama on British television. ITV had largely been responsible for this, for while the BBC had two very popular series, Dixon of Dock Green and Maigret. This chapter explains that Z Cars not only led the BBC fightback against ITV in the weekly ratings charts, it also marked a significant departure for the BBC in terms of popular programming. Launched on 2 January 1962, the series marked the arrival of a new kind of police drama, one conceived and developed in response to the cosy, reassuring image of policing represented by the BBC's own Dixon of Dock Green. This chapter states that the origins of Z Cars within the Documentary Drama Unit, together with Jones' insistence that it be set in the north, were key factors in the success of the new series. The combination of documentary realism and Kennedy Martin's fictional characterisation of the police undoubtedly contributed to the critical and popular success of Z Cars.
Troy Kennedy Martin
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719067020
- eISBN:
- 9781781702055
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719067020.003.0018
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Television
With the decline of the single play on British television during the 1970s and 1980s, authored television drama increasingly took the form of the serial, or mini-series. Series and serial drama ...
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With the decline of the single play on British television during the 1970s and 1980s, authored television drama increasingly took the form of the serial, or mini-series. Series and serial drama provided an opportunity to spread the costs of production, while building and retaining audiences. The single play, on the other hand, was not only expensive to produce, it could not guarantee audiences in the way that series and serials could. This chapter shows that Troy Kennedy Martin had experimented with the drama serial in the early 1960s with Diary of a Young Man and the unproduced Macheath, it was Masterspy and the transitional drama Fear of God that bridged the gap between his contributions to drama series in the 1970s and the more sustained drama serials of the 1980s. This drama provided him the opportunity to explore some contemporary concerns, within a drama serial format.Less
With the decline of the single play on British television during the 1970s and 1980s, authored television drama increasingly took the form of the serial, or mini-series. Series and serial drama provided an opportunity to spread the costs of production, while building and retaining audiences. The single play, on the other hand, was not only expensive to produce, it could not guarantee audiences in the way that series and serials could. This chapter shows that Troy Kennedy Martin had experimented with the drama serial in the early 1960s with Diary of a Young Man and the unproduced Macheath, it was Masterspy and the transitional drama Fear of God that bridged the gap between his contributions to drama series in the 1970s and the more sustained drama serials of the 1980s. This drama provided him the opportunity to explore some contemporary concerns, within a drama serial format.