Prisoner Cell Block H No 2

Interviews with the cast of Prisoner Cell Block H, character profiles, photographs and comments from celebrities who are viewers, are all included in this inside view of the Australian soap opera.

A host of comedians, writers and viewers, including Rebecca Front, Andrew Collins, Kevin Eldon, Emma Kennedy, Richard Herring, Jim Shelley and David Quantick share funny and heartfelt rants and raves on everything from soaps to sitcoms, sci-fi to reality shows, HBO to QVC. All of TV is here: the age-old rift between BBC and ITV that tore families apart; the secret shame of crying at adverts; and those significant moments in life when television has made for an unforgettable backdrop. Richard Herring has a controversial new theory about Goodnight Sweetheart, Boyd Hilton shares his all-time comedy top ten and Rebecca Front demolishes the clichés of news reading. They're joined by a list of fellow telly addicts with axes to grind, . So, if you have ever rooted for the most offensive candidates in The Apprentice or repeatedly corrected Supernanny Jo Frost's pronounciation of 'unacceptable' then this book will give you and your spleen many happy memories of the hours you've spent shouting at the telly.

The ways in which we watch television tell us much about our views of gender, the family and society. Bringing together the leading experts in the field of audience studies, this book investigates how viewers watch television, and what they think about the programmes they see. Originally published in 1989, the book is divided into two sections which discuss some of the theoretical issues at stake and then present case studies of a wide range of viewers: women office workers, Israeli watchers of Dallas, German families, the elderly, and American daytime soap fans. Contributors from Britain, the United States, Western Europe, Australia and Israel offer a wide range of perspectives, from feminism to post-modernism, and from semiotics to Marxism. ‘Together these essays constitute one of the best possible introductions to the leading edge of research into the phenomenon of television.’ Choice