British Television A Reader [Paperback]

OXFORD TELEVISION STUDIES

General Editors: Charlotte Brunsdon and John Caughie


Oxford Television Studiesoffers 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.

Introduction
Part I: Histories, Structures, Economics
The BBC and the General Strike May 1926,Michael Tracey
Public Service Broadcasting: The History of a Concept,Paddy Scannell
The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom,Asa Briggs
Channel Four Television: From Annan to Grade,Sylvia Harvey
Money Talks: Broadcasting Finance and Public Culture,Graham Murdock
Part II: Programmes
Creating the Audience,David Buckingham
The Construction of a Community,Christine Geraghty
Structure of Anxiety: Recent British Television Crime Fiction,Charlotte Brulã