Experimental British Television

Throughout its history, British television has found a place, if only in its margins, for programs that consciously worked to expand the boundaries of television aesthetics. Even in the present climate of increased academic interest in television history, its experimental tradition has generally either been approached generically or been lost within the assumption that television is simply a mass medium. Experimental British Television uncovers the history of experimental television, bringing back forgotten programmers in addition to looking at relatively more privileged artists or program strands from fresh perspectives.

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.

When the BBC launched the world's first regular, high-definition television service on 2 November, 1936 it was the culmination of decades of technological innovations. More than this, however, the service meant that the principle of television had finally found its place. The Birth of British Television – A History traces the early history and development of television, from the experiments of amateurs to the institutionalised developments that led to the world's first regular, high definition television service. Author Mark Aldridge provides a clear, in-depth and accessible introduction for those either exploring the period for the first time or seeking new insights into the beginnings of the industry. In tracing the origins and development of television, Aldridge focuses on a number of important factors including the attitude of the press towards early television and examines the way that expectations of television changed over time prior to its official launch. Utilising new research, this illuminating study examines how the aims for a new television service developed, and the extent to which content and technology were linked. The Birth of British Television approaches this formative period from several perspectives, from private individuals to the BBC and government, while also examining the broader opinions at the time towards the new medium through press reports and feedback from the general public. Also included is an assessment of early programming, which helps to offer a new and profound evaluation of the development of early television. Mark Aldridge is a Lecturer in Film and TV Studies at Southampton Solent University, UK. He specialises in British television and both film and television history. His previous publications include T is for Television (2008), an analysis of the work of Russell T. Davies, co-written with Andy Murray.

Avant-garde film is almost indefinable. It is in a constant state of change and redefinition. In his highly-acclaimed history of experimental film, A.L. Rees tracks the movement of the film avant-garde between the cinema and modern art (with its postmodern coda). But he also reconstitutes the film avant-garde as an independent form of art practice with its own internal logic and aesthetic discourse. In this revised and updated edition, Rees introduces experimental film and video to new readers interested in the wider cinema, as well as offering a guide to enthusiasts of avant-garde film and new media arts. Ranging from Cézanne and Dada, via Cocteau, Brakhage and Le Grice, to the new wave of British film and video artists from the 1990s to the present day, this expansive study situates avant-garde film between the cinema and the gallery, with many links to sonic as well as visual arts. The new edition includes a review of current scholarship in avant-garde film history and includes updated reading and viewing lists. It also features a new introduction and concluding chapter, which assess the rise of video projection in the gallery since the millennium, and describe new work by the latest generation of experimental film-makers. The new edition is richly illustrated with images of the art works discussed.

This comprehensive historical account demonstrates the rich diversity in 1970s British experimental filmmaking, acting as a form of reclamation for films and filmmakers marginalized within established histories. An indispensable book for practitioners, historians and critics alike, it provides new interpretations of this rich and diverse history.

This is the first book of its kind to look across disciplines at this vital aspect of British art, literature and culture. It brings the various intertwined histories of social realism into historical perspective, and argues that this sometimes marginalized genre is still an important reference point for creativity in Britain.

Including essays from established and up-and-coming scholars, Cinema, Television and History: New Approaches rethinks, recontextualises and reviews the relationship between cinema, television and history. This volume incorporates a wide range of methods to a variety of topics, welcoming both empirical and theoretical approaches, as well as studies which merge the two. It is a book about how historical events are interpreted and adapted across cinema and television as the basis of a story, as much as it is about the endeavours of the practising historian through the exploration of the archive. Divided into five parts—“New meanings, new methods”, “Re-contextualising cinema and television history”, “Rethinking histories of cinema and television”, “Rethinking history through cinema and television”, and “The impact of new technologies”—the book is knowingly broad and diverse in terms of the case studies featured within it, and the means through which these examples are examined, explored, and utilised in their respective chapters.

This book is concerned with the history of British television for home reception from 1922/23 to 1939, when the London Station closed down for the war years. Great care has been taken to ensure that an unbiased, accurate history has been written and the work is based predominantly on written primary source material.