British Television

Advances in audiovisual technology, most notably the advent of the popular usage of digital technology in the last few years, have altered the face of popular television. Thanks to cable, satellite and now digital technology, television broadcasts can reach an international audience. The reaction from cultural critics has been mixed. As the debate concerning the effects of new telecommunications and audiovisual technology continues unabated, this book examines the underlying hypothesis that collective allegiances are moving away from the national paradigm towards the global/local model and provides a balanced appraisal of the depiction of a select number of group identities on television in Britain and France.

This book presents a compelling case for a paradigmatic shift in the analysis of television drama production that recentres questions of power, control and sustainability. Television drama production has become an increasingly lucrative global export business as drama as a form enjoys increased prestige. However, this book argues that the growing emphasis on international markets and global players such as Netflix and Amazon Prime neglects the realities of commissioning and making television drama in specific national and regional contexts. Drawing on extensive empirical research, Producing British Television Drama demonstrates the centrality of public service broadcasters in serving audiences and sustaining the commercial independent sector in a digital age. It attends closely to three elements—the role of place in the production of content; the experiences of those working in the sector; and the interventions from cultural intermediaries in articulating and ascribing value to television drama. With chapters examining the evolution of British TV drama, as well as what might be in store in its future, this book offers invaluable insights into the UK as a major supplier of and market for television drama.

Featuring leading scholars of British television drama and noted writers and producers from the television industry, this new edition of British Television Drama evaluates past and present TV fiction since the 1960s, and considers its likely future.

This original book asks how, in an age of convergence, when 'television' no longer means a box in the corner of the living room that we sit and watch together, do we remember television of the past? How do we gather and archive our memories? Kristyn Gordon and Joanne Garde-Hansen explore these questions through first person interviews with tv producers, curators and archivists, and case studies of popular television series and fan communities such as 'Cold Feet' and 'Doctor Who'. Their discussion takes in museum exhibitions, popular televison nostalgia programming and 'vintage' tv websites.

This widely-respected history of British television drama is an indispensable guide to the significant developments in the area; from its beginnings on the BBC in the 1930s and 40s to its position in the twenty-first century, as television enters a multichannel digital era. Embracing the complete spectrum of television drama, Lez Cooke places programmes in their social, political and industrial contexts, and surveys the key dramas, writers, producers and directors. Thoroughly revised and updated, this second edition includes new images and case studies, new material on British television drama before 1936, an expanded bibliography and a substantial new chapter that explores the renaissance in the quality, variety and social ambition of television drama in Britain since 2002. Comprehensive and accessible, this book will be of value to anyone interested in the rich history of British television and modern drama.

British Television Policy: A Reader provides a forum for the significant policy debates which have informed and shaped television broadcasting since the publication in 1986 of the Peacock Committee Report on the financing of the BBC. The Reader presents key documents and critically analyses their impact on the organisation, financial resources, programme content, editorial philosophy and the regulatory environment of television broadcasting. Recognising that policy making is not wholly a prerogative of government, British Television Policy provides readers with access to a wide range of statutory and non-governmental documents which have affected British broadcasting legislation: Acts of Parliament; Private Members' Bills; Select Committee Reports; Official statements by Ministers; Parliamentary inquiries such as the Davies Report; Policy documents prepared by interest groups such as the Campaign for Quality Television and the Voice of the Listener and Viewer; Strategic announcements from the ITC; Statements from the BBC and ITV; Public lectures by media owners and executives such as Rupert Murdoch and Richard Eyre; Commentaries from media academics and media analysts. Beginning with a comprehensive editorial introduction which details television policy since 1945, the Reader is arranged in thematic sections which explore the purpose of television broadcasting, the financing of television, broadcasting policy and quality, regulation, and the relationship of broadcasting and politics. Each section is accompanied by an editor's introduction and commentary and the Reader is supported by a glossary and a guide to further reading.

Ever since Norman Lear remade the BBC series Till Death Us Do Part into All in the Family, American remakes of British television shows have become part of the American cultural fabric. Indeed, some of the programs currently said to exemplify American tastes and attitudes, from reality programs like American Idol and What Not to Wear to the mock-documentary approach of The Office, are adaptations of successful British shows. Carlen Lavigne and Heather Marcovitch's American Remakes of British Television: Transformations and Mistranslations is a multidisciplinary collection of essays that focuses on questions raised when a foreign show is adapted for the American market. What does it mean to remake a television program? What does the process of 'Americanization' entail? What might the success or failure of a remade series tell us about the differences between American and British producers and audiences? This volume examines British-to-American television remakes from 1971 to the present. The American remakes in this volume do not share a common genre, format, or even level of critical or popular acclaim. What these programs do have in common, however, is the sense that something in the original has been significantly changed in order to make the program appealing or accessible to American audiences. The contributors display a multitude of perspectives in their essays. British-to-American television remakes as a whole are explained in terms of the market forces and international trade that make these productions financially desirable. Sanford and Son is examined in terms of race and class issues. Essays on Life on Mars and Doctor Who stress television's role in shaping collective cultural memories. An essay on Queer as Folk explores the romance genre and also talks about differences in national sexual politics. An examination of The Office discusses how the American remake actually endorses the bureaucracy that the British original satirizes; alternatively, another approach breaks down The Office's bumbling boss figures in terms of contemporary psychological theory. An essay on What Not to Wear discusses how a reality show about everyday fashion conceals the construction of an ideal national subject; a second essay explains the show in terms of each country's discourses surrounding femininity. The success of American Idol is explained by analyzing the role of amateur music in American culture. The issue of translation itself is interrogated by examining specific episodes of Cracker, and also by asking why a successful series in the U.K., Blackpool, was a dismal failure as an American remake. This collection provides a rich and multifaceted overview of approaches to international television studies.