British Screens Research Articles

Alan Burton, Looking-Glass Wars: Spies on British Screens since 1960

Alan Burton, <i>Looking-Glass Wars: Spies on British Screens since 1960</i>

The Press, Society and the Coming of Sound to Birmingham

The arrival of sound on British cinema screens is perhaps more accurately described as the arrival of American sounds. Almost overnight, the sounds of American voices, accents, slang and vernacular became commonplace throughout the country. This article uses linguistic and social economic frameworks to explore the ways in which American sound films challenged the legitimacy and dominance of hegemonic forms of language within Britain. Taking the mainstream provincial press as a primary source, it discusses the ways in which the arrival of sound was seen as a nationalist threat to both industry and culture. The article uses Birmingham as a focal point and uncovers nuanced ways in which language was negotiated and deployed both by mainstream institutions as well as young people and the working classes. It argues that dominant social actors within British society – such as the press, the Church and educationists – saw talkies as almost invariably threatening, while marginalised social actors like children, teenagers and working-class Northern and Midland audiences were able to use the othered displacement of American talkies as a class-neutral space where their own social capital was bolstered.

Casting for the Public Good: BAME Casting in British Film and Television in the 2010s

Abstract This article examines changes in casting practices which have begun to put black, Asian, and minority ethnic actors more regularly on British screens and in more significant parts. In the context of calls for improving BAME involvement at all levels of the film and television industry, I look in particular at how colour-blind casting has begun to have an impact on British cinema. The article looks initially at how calls for the campaign for changes entwine with the British tradition of public service broadcasting and examines the socially conscious criteria for casting introduced by the BBC and the BFI in 2016. I suggest that some of the ambiguous expectations of audiences in relation to colour-blind casting are similar to the potentially contradictory aspirations placed on institutions which receive public funding. In order to examine these issues in some detail, I draw on textual and paratextual analysis to demonstrate how frames of reference for understanding new approaches to casting can be found in recent period adaptations, a British genre strongly associated with whiteness by actors and critics. The examples discussed span the decade: Wuthering Heights (Arnold, 2011), Lady Macbeth (Oldroyd, 2016), and Mary Queen of Scots (Rourke, 2018). The analysis demonstrates that while casting for the public good is becoming more common it nevertheless remains a complicated and controversial strategy.

‘The most objectionable story I have ever had to report on’: Film censorship in post-Second World War Britain and the re-telling of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Body Snatcher

Abstract Existing research on British censorship during the 1940s has often favoured the notion that a so-called ‘H’ ban effectively upheld the import, production, and exhibition of the horror film in Britain during the later-half of the Second World War. However, through an analysis of contemporary critical reception and censorship discourses, it becomes apparent how this ‘ban’ was nowhere near as clearly defined as is often argued. While the ‘H’ ban may have succeeded in barring a small number of low-brow fantasy horror films from cinema screens the genre prevailed in various guises, with the films of producer Val Lewton bringing about a shift away from fantasy towards representations of the everyday. Furthermore, the role of the script supervisor at the British Board of Film Censors clearly demonstrates an alternative to censorship through an involvement with the studios prior to production in order to avoid such restrictions. This article therefore presents an analysis of such negotiations at the BBFC during this period, with Lewton’s production of The Body Snatcher (Wise, 1945) representing an example of how horror remained a fixture on British screens, through both self-censorship and a move away from the type of film typically associated with the ‘H’ classification.

Writing refugees into television history

This article examines the work of playwright Leo Lehman for British television in the 1950s and 1960s. Originally from Poland, Lehman came to England as a refugee during the Second World War. The study of Lehman’s work, and particularly his stories about refugees and asylum, opens a window to a still largely unmapped history of remarkable cultural diversity on British screens and beyond. This case study also sheds light on the ways in which the history of British television cuts across national borders and intersects with European history.

Nicole Cloarec, David Haigron and Delphine Letort (eds), Social Class on British and American Screens: Essays on Cinema and Television

Nicole Cloarec, David Haigron and Delphine Letort (eds), <i>Social Class on British and American Screens: Essays on Cinema and Television</i>

“Show us your moves”: trade rituals of television marketing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the professional culture of television marketing in the UK, the sector of arts marketing responsible for the vast majority of programme trailers and channel promos seen on British television screens. Design/methodology/approach – In research approach, it draws on participant observation at Promax UK, the main trade conference and award ceremony of the television marketing community. Developing John Caldwell’s analysis of the cultural practices of worker groups, it uses Promax as a site of study itself, exploring how a key trade gathering forges, legitimates and ritualizes the identity and practice of those involved in television marketing. Findings – Its findings show how Promax transmits industrial lore, not only about “how to do” the job of television marketing but also “how to be” in the professional field. If trade gatherings enable professional communities to express their own values to themselves, Promax members are constructed as “TV people” rather than just “marketing people”; the creative work of television marketing is seen as akin to the creative work of television production and positioned as part of the television industry. Originality/value – The value of the paper is the exploration of television marketing as a professional and creative discipline. This is especially relevant to marketing and media academics who have tended to overlook, or dismiss, the sector and skills of television promotion.

The Devil is in the ‘Domestic’? European Integration Studies and the Limits of Europeanization in Turkey

In the 1960s, a Carnation Evaporated Milk advert appeared on British screens with the slogan: ‘as versatile as an egg’. The milk, it claimed, could be used for a myriad of cooking purposes, with no...

Images of Survival, Stories of Destruction: Nuclear War on British Screens from 1945 to the Early 1960s

This article discusses a range of depictions and discussions of nuclear war, which appeared on British screens in the first half of the Cold War, in order to understand the changing way nuclear weapons were viewed within British culture. Using such screened images to understand how nuclear war was constructed and represented within British culture, the article argues that the hydrogen bomb, not the atomic bomb, was the true harbinger of the nuclear revolution that transformed cultural understandings of warfare and destruction. Although the atomic bomb created a great deal of anxiety within British popular culture, representations of atomic attack elided atomic destruction with that experienced in 1939–45, emphasising the ‘survivability’ of atomic war. In the thermonuclear era, the Second World War could not undertake the same symbolic work. The image of the city-destroying bomb was an imaginative as well as technological step-change. Screened representations stressed that a thermonuclear war would literally end the world. As such, they preceded, and indeed provided the cultural climate for, the rise of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). The Campaign exploited and further popularised this idea of the apocalyptic nuclear war as a key aspect of its political and moral standpoint. The article concludes, however, that the cultural hegemony of this vision of nuclear war equally helped underpin notions of nuclear deterrence. The basic assumptions about the nature of nuclear war constructed and circulated on British screens therefore formed part of CND's ‘cultural’ victory but the article also explains why this did not translate into the political realm.

Mind Bending, Mental Seduction and Menticide: Brainwashing in British Spy Dramas of the 1960s

Brainwashing assumed the proportions of a cultural fantasy during the Cold War period. The article examines the various political, scientific and cultural contexts of brainwashing, and proceeds to a consideration of the place of mind control in British spy dramas made for cinema and television in the 1960s and 1970s. Particular attention is given to the films The Mind Benders (1963) and The Ipcress File (1965), and to the television dramas Man in a Suitcase (1967–8), The Prisoner (1967–8) and Callan (1967–81), which gave expression to the anxieties surrounding thought-control. Attention is given to the scientific background to the representations of brainwashing, and the significance of spy scandals, treasons and treacheries as a distinct context to the appearance of brainwashing on British screens.

‘Accounting for Creativity – British Producers, British Screens: Reassessing the Creative Role of the Producer’, Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, 19–20 April 2011

‘Accounting for Creativity – British Producers, British Screens: Reassessing the Creative Role of the Producer’, Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, 19–20 April 2011

British Radical Screens Symposium, Bush House, Bristol, 3 September 2010

On 3 September 2010 the first ‘Radical British Screens’ symposium was held at Bush House in Bristol. The event was organised by Dr Estella Tincknell, Reader in Media and Cultural Studies, and Dr Charlotte Crofts, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies and Video Production, both of the Film Studies Research Group at the University of the West of England, in collaboration with the Screen Studies South West network. The day focused on the diverse ways in which the term ‘radical’ has been deployed in film-making and television, how ‘radical’ has been interpreted within various media traditions, and how it has been adapted to the changing contexts of production and exhibition. Eleven papers were delivered by a mixture of film-makers, experienced academics and PhD researchers from the UK and overseas, reflecting a renewed interest in this area extending beyond the UK’s shores. A central theme focused on how the actual term ‘radical’ resonates in a variety of contexts, from contents and aesthetics to intentions and interventions. This diversity was reflected in the range of papers on offer. Some speakers asked what it means to be ‘radical’ and if this term can be used in considering mainstream products. Others considered whether feminist theory is inherently radical and how aesthetic experimentation can relate to politics. The symposium also considered the relationship between British audio-visual culture and the ‘radical’. Can a ‘radical tradition’ be said even to exist when ‘tradition’ implies continuity and ‘radical’ suggests rupture? How has this ‘radical tradition’, however problematic, impacted upon British film-making practices? And in what ways have institutions such as Channel 4 and the BBC had a role in developing this tradition, influencing subject matter and regulating what can be shown?

The role of the British popular press in re-imagining American television celebrities for the British audience: the 1950s to the 1960s

In this article I will explore how American celebrities were represented by the British popular press in the 1950s and 1960s when American television programmes first appeared and became popular on British screens. Through an analysis of a small selection of news stories I will explore how the representations and images of American celebrities differed from the coverage of British celebrities, what values were at work in such pieces and in what ways the British press could be thought of as reshaping their representations for the British context. Through such work I will argue that global stars and celebrities are re-imagined dynamically for each national context through an interaction of transnational and national discourses; one entailing a discursive struggle between maintaining a known global image and seeking to re-shape the celebrity persona for particular national context.

Travelling Cultures: The Development of the American Mini Serial and its Import to Britain

Charlotte Brunsdon has argued that ‘the television studies that developed in Britain . . . did so within the taken-for-granted dominance of public service models . . . In contrast, the US system is one organised on commercial principles, textually distinguished by the normality of advertising spots and breaks’ (1998: 96). The emphasis on difference in the description of television in the USA and the UK is widespread in the study of television. Even in studies of American television programmes on British screens, which is also the subject of this article, this difference is emphasised. Paul Rixon, for example, describes his own experience of watching American programmes – in Britain in contrast to America

Reviews: Lynda La Plante, Investigating Alias: Secrets and Spies, American Television on British Screens: A Story of Cultural Interaction, Trevor Griffiths, Gothic Television

Reviews: Lynda La Plante, Investigating Alias: Secrets and Spies, American Television on British Screens: A Story of Cultural Interaction, Trevor Griffiths, Gothic Television

British Screens Now Manchester Metropolitan University, 11–13 September 2006

British Screens Now Manchester Metropolitan University, 11–13 September 2006

American Programmes on British Screens: A Revaluation

American Programmes on British Screens: A Revaluation

Quality popular television: cult TV, the industry and fans

1. Introduction, Mark Jancovich and James Lyons Part One: Industries, Networks and Programming 2. Vertical Vision: Deregulation, Industrial Economy and Prime-Time Design Jennifer Holt 3. Must See TV: Programming Identity on NBC Thursdays, Nancy San Martin 4. The Changing Face of American Television Programmes on British Screens, Paul Rixon Part Two: 'Content is King': Formats, Shows and Events 5. Transnational Context to Long-Format Special-Event Television: Branding Networks, John McMurria 6. Must See Queer TV: History and Serial Form in Ellen, Anna McCarthy 7. 'You're not going to see that on TV': Star Trek: The Next Generation in Film and Television, Roberta E. Pearson and Maire Messenger-Davies 8. Brave New Buffy: Rethinking 'TV Violence', Lisa Parks Part Three: Commodity Audiences: Cults, Fans and Dedicated Audiences 9. Martial Law and the Changing Face of Martial Arts on US Television, Andrew Willis 10. Superman on the Set: The Market, Nostalgia, and Television Audiences, Ian Gordon 11. Web Wars: Resistance, Online Fandom and Studio Censorship, Sara Gwenllian-Jones Afterword 12. What is Television For?, Alan McKee

The hidden cinema: British film censorship in action, 1913-1972

How does film censorship work in Britain? Jim Robertson's new paperback edition of The Hidden Cinema argues that censorship has had a far greater influence on British film history than is often apparent, creating the 'hidden cinema' of the title. Robertson charts the role of the British Board of Film Censors, established in 1913, and the histories of a variety of noteworthy films including Battleship Potemkin and No Orchids for Miss Blandish and revealing how censorship continues to exert a marked influence on many important films - like the controversial A Clockwork Orange - some of which have now vanished from British screens altogether. This edition includes a brand new section on Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris, immediately engulfed in censorship wrangles on its release in 1972.

Hollywood Films on British Screens: An Analysis of the Functions of American Popular Culture Abroad

Hollywood Films on British Screens: An Analysis of the Functions of American Popular Culture Abroad