British Television: A Reader

by Edward Buscombe

Overview

OXFORD TELEVISION STUDIES

General Editors: Charlotte Brunsdon and John Caughie


Oxford Television Studies offers international authors—both established and emerging—an opportunity to reflect on particular problems of history, theory, and criticism which are specific to television and which are central to its critical understanding. The perspective of the series will be international, while respecting the peculiarities of the national; it will be historical, without proposing simple histories; and it will be grounded in the analysis of programs and genres. The series is intended to be foundational without being introductory or routine, facilitating clearly focused critical reflection and engaging a range of debates, topics, and approaches which will offer a basis for the development of television studies.

This book attempts to give a broad overview of British television by examining both the institutional framework and the programs that it has produced. A range of reprinted writings from the work of acknowledged experts is supplemented by specially commissioned essays on such key topics as sport and British television in the global context. It will be a key text for all students taking courses on British television and broadcasting.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198742654
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/24/2000
Series:	Oxford Television Studies
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	364
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Edward Buscombe is Visiting Professor of Media Arts, Southampton Institute. His previous publications include The Screen Education Reader (co-edited with Manuel Alvarado and Richard Collins, 1993) and Back in the Saddle Again: New Essays on the Western (co-edited with Roberta Pearson, 1998).

Table of Contents

IntroductionPart I: Histories, Structures, EconomicsThe BBC and the General Strike May 1926, Michael TraceyPublic Service Broadcasting: The History of a Concept, Paddy ScannellThe History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, Asa BriggsChannel Four Television: From Annan to Grade, Sylvia HarveyMoney Talks: Broadcasting Finance and Public Culture, Graham MurdockPart II: ProgrammesCreating the Audience, David BuckinghamThe Construction of a Community, Christine GeraghtyStructure of Anxiety: Recent British Television Crime Fiction, Charlotte BrunsdonCrime and Crisis: British Reality Television in Action, Annette HillIll News Comes Often on the Back of Worse, John EldridgeEvery Wart and Pustule: Gilbert Harding and Television Stardom, Andy MedhurstFraming 'the Real': Oranges, Middlemarch, X-Files, Robin NelsonBroadcast Comedy and Sitcom, Steve Neale and Frank KrutnikThe Lads and The Gladiators: Traditional Masculinities in a Post-Modern Televisual Landscape, Garry WhannelThe International Circulation of British Television, Tom O'ReganBibliographyIndex