ITV Cultures

ITV Cultures

Author: Catherine Johnson

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

Published: 2005-09-16

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 0335225942

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“This exciting book goes to the heart of a creative commercialand public service culture - it shows why ITV matters and howit was made to work so well. A tremendous contribution.” Professor Jean Seaton, University of Westminster “This is a valuable addition to studies of ITV's history andprogramming...” Tom O'Malley, Professor of Media Studies, University of Wales, Aberyswyth, and Co-Editor of Media History. Since breaking the BBC’s monopoly in 1955, ITV has been at thecentre of the British television landscape. To coincide with thefiftieth anniversary of the first ITV broadcast, this accessible bookoffers a range of perspectives on the complex and multifaceted history ofBritain’s first commercial broadcaster. The book explores key tensions and conflicts which have influenced theITV service. Chapters focus on particular institutions, includingLondon Weekend Television and ITN, and programme forms, includingWho Wants to be a Millionaire?, Upstairs Downstairs and Trisha.The contributors show that ITV has had to tread an uneasy line betweenpublic service and commercial imperatives, between a pluralistic regionalstructure and a national network, and between popular appeal andquality programming. A timeline of key events in the history of ITV is alsoincluded. ITV Cultures provides a timely intervention in debates on broadcastingand cultural history for academics and researchers, and a livelyintroduction to the history of ITV for students and general readers. Contributors: Rod Allen, City University; Jonathan Bignell, University of Reading; John Ellis, Royal Holloway, University of London; Jackie Harrison, University of Sheffield; Jamie Medhurst, University of Wales, Aberystwyth; Matt Hills, Cardiff University; Steve Neale, University of Exeter; Helen Wheatley, University of Reading; Sherryl Wilson, Bournemouth University.


ITV Cultures

ITV Cultures

Author: Johnson, Larry

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 9786610954209

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"This exciting book goes to the heart of a creative commercial and public service culture - it shows why ITV matters and how it was made to work so well. A tremendous contribution." - Professor Jean Seaton, University of Westminster. "This is a valuable addition to studies of ITV's history and programming..." - Tom O'Malley, Professor of Media Studies, University of Wales, Aberyswyth, and Co-Editor of "Media History." Since breaking the BBC's monopoly in 1955, ITV has been at the centre of the British television landscape. To coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the first ITV broadcast, this accessible book offers a range of perspectives on the complex and multifaceted history of Britain's first commercial broadcaster. The book explores key tensions and conflicts which have influenced the ITV service. Chapters focus on particular institutions, including London Weekend Television and ITN, and programme forms, including "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?," "Upstairs Downstairs" and "Trisha."; The contributors show that ITV has had to tread an uneasy line between public service and commercial imperatives, between a pluralistic regional structure and a national network, and between popular appeal and quality programming. A timeline of key events in the history of ITV is also included. "ITV Cultures" provides a timely intervention in debates on broadcasting and cultural history for academics and researchers, and a lively introduction to the history of ITV for students and general readers.


Shakespeare and Sexuality in the Comedy of Morecambe & Wise

Shakespeare and Sexuality in the Comedy of Morecambe & Wise

Author: Stephen Hamrick

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-02-18

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 3030339580

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Contextualizing the duo’s work within British comedy, Shakespeare criticism, the history of sexuality, and their own historical moment, this book offers the first sustained analysis of the 20th Century’s most successful double-act. Over the course of a forty-four-year career (1940-1984), Eric Morecambe & Ernie Wise appropriated snippets of verse, scenes, and other elements from seventeen of Shakespeare’s plays more than one-hundred-and-fifty times. Fashioning a kinder, more inclusive world, they deployed a vast array of elements connected to Shakespeare, his life, and institutions. Rejecting claims that they offer only nostalgic escapism, Hamrick analyses their work within contemporary contexts, including their engagement with many forms and genres, including Variety, the heritage industry, journalism, and more. ‘The Boys’ deploy Shakespeare to work through issues of class, sexuality, and violence. Lesbianism, drag, gay marriage, and a queer aesthetics emerge, helping to normalize homosexuality and complicate masculinity in the ‘permissive’ 1960s.


Contemporary Television Series

Contemporary Television Series

Author: Michael Hammond

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2005-05-04

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 0748679642

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An engaging and provocative study of the contemporary prime-time 'quality' serial television format, this book gives a timely account of prominent programmes such as 24, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ER, The Sopranos and The West Wing and explores their influential position within the television industry. Divided into the areas of history, aesthetics and reception, the text provides an illuminating overview of an increasingly hybrid television studies discipline. Chapters consider the formal and aesthetic elements in the contemporary television serial through approaches ranging from those concerned with issues of gender and sexuality, national identity, and reception to industry history and textual analysis. The book also includes British examples of 'quality' serial television emphasizing not only their cultural specificity but also the transnational context in which these programmes operate. Features*Section introductions provide student-friendly explanations of the various approaches and methodologies employed in the book*Chapters are written by an international team of experts in the field of television studies*Ideal for use as a textbook on courses in contemporary television taught at undergraduate level


Contemporary British Television Crime Drama

Contemporary British Television Crime Drama

Author: Ruth McElroy

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-10-14

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1317160959

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Contemporary British Television Crime Drama examines one of the medium’s most popular genres and places it within its historical and industrial context. The television crime drama has proved itself capable of numerous generic reinventions and continues to enjoy some of the highest viewing figures. Crime drama offers audiences stories of right and wrong, moral authority asserted and resisted, and professionals and criminals, doing so in ways that are often highly entertaining, innovative, and thought provoking. In examining the appeal of this highly dynamic genre, this volume explores how it responds not only to changing social debates on crime and policing, but also to processes of hybridization within the television industry itself. Contributors, many of whom are leading figures in UK television studies, analyse popular series such as Broadchurch, Between the Lines, Foyle’s War, Poirot, Prime Suspect, Sherlock and Wallander. Essays examine the main characteristics of television crime drama production, including the nature of trans-Atlantic franchises and literary and transnational adaptations. Adopting a range of feminist, historical, aesthetic and industrial approaches, they offer incisive interrogations that provide readers with a rich understanding of the allure of crime drama to both viewers and commissioners.


Media Independence

Media Independence

Author: James Bennett

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-11-20

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 1317690346

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Media independence is central to the organization, make-up, working practices and output of media systems across the globe. Often stemming from western notions of individual and political freedoms, independence has informed the development of media across a range of platforms: from the freedom of the press as the "fourth estate" and the rise of Hollywood’s Independent studios and Independent television in Britain, through to the importance of "Indy" labels in music and gaming and the increasing importance of independence of voice in citizen journalism. Media independence for many, therefore, has come to mean working with freedom: from state control or interference, from monopoly, from market forces, as well as freedom to report, comment, create and document without fear of persecution. However, far from a stable concept that informs all media systems, the notion of media independence has long been contested, forming a crucial tension point in the regulation, shape, size and role of the media around the globe. Contributors including David Hesmondhalgh, Gholam Khiabany, José van Dijck, Hector Postigo, Anthony Fung, Stuart Allan and Geoff King demonstrate how the notion of independence has remained paramount, but contested, in ideals of what the media is for, how it should be regulated, what it should produce and what working within it should be like. They address questions of economics, labor relations, production cultures, ideologies and social functions.


Entertaining television

Entertaining television

Author: Su Holmes

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2015-11-01

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 1526101602

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Entertaining television challenges the idea that the BBC in the 1950s was elitist and ‘staid’, upholding Reithian values in a paternalistic, even patronising way. By focusing on a number of (often controversial) programme case studies – such as the soap opera, the quiz/ game show, the ‘problem’ show and programmes dealing with celebrity culture - Su Holmes demonstrates how BBC television surprisingly explored popular interests and desires. She also uncovers a number of remarkable connections with programmes and topics at the forefront of television today, ranging from talk shows, 'Reality TV', even to our contemporary obsession with celebrity. The book is iconclastic, percipient and grounded in archival research, and will be of use to anyone studying television history.


European Television Crime Drama and Beyond

European Television Crime Drama and Beyond

Author: Kim Toft Hansen

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-12-05

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 3319968874

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This book is the first to focus on the role of European television crime drama on the international market. As a genre, the television crime drama has enjoyed a long and successful career, routinely serving as a prism from which to observe the local, national and even transnational issues that are prevalent in society. This extensive volume explores a wide range of countries, from the US to European countries such as Spain, Italy, the Scandinavian countries, Germany, England and Wales, in order to reveal the very currencies that are at work in the global production and circulation of the TV crime drama. The chapters, all written by leading television and crime fiction scholars, provide readings of crime dramas such as the Swedish-Danish The Bridge, the Welsh Hinterland, the Spanish Under Suspicion, the Italian Gomorrah, the German Tatort and the Turkish Cinayet. By examining both European texts and the ‘European-ness’ of various international dramas, this book ultimately demonstrates that transnationalism is at the very core of TV crime drama in Europe and beyond.


A History of Independent Television in Wales

A History of Independent Television in Wales

Author: Jamie Medhurst

Publisher: University of Wales Press

Published: 2015-02-20

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 1783164050

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Despite the growing body of work on the media in Wales, very little exists on the history of commercial television in Wales. This book seeks to address this imbalance by tracing the growth and development of ITV in Wales and assessing its contribution to the life of the nation. ITV has been a powerful force in British broadcasting since its inception in 1955. When commercial television came to Wales for the first time in 1958, it immediately got caught up in with matters of national identity, language and geography. Compared with the BBC, it is a relative newcomer; its growth was slower than that of the BBC and it took until 1962 to complete the network across the UK. Once it had arrived, however, its impact was considerable. The book will provide an historical narrative and critical analysis of independent television (ITV) in Wales from 1958 up until the present day.