Author Archives: billysmart

Festival: The Life of Galileo (BBC, 1964)

Our ‘Dramatic Spaces: The Imaginative World of the TV Studio’ film season continues at BFI Southbank this afternoon, with a screening of ‘The Life of Galileo’, a version of Brecht’s epic history, recorded in Television Centre for the BBC’s Festival … Continue reading

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‘Dead of Night: The Exorcism’ (BBC, 1972)

Our ‘Dramatic Spaces: The Imaginative World of the TV Studio’ film season opens at BFI Southbank tonight, with a screening of ‘The Exorcism’, Don Taylor’s play for made for the BBC2 horror anthology series Dead of Night. Over the course … Continue reading

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‘Hunters Walk: Local Knowledge’ (1973): Representing rape in the studio police drama

  (Text of a paper given by Billy Smart at the University of Glamorgan ATRiuM in Cardiff – twice! – at ‘Spaces of Television: The Performance of Television Space’ on Friday 20 April 2012 and ‘Cops on the Box: Crime … Continue reading

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‘Armchair Theatre: The Golden Road’ (1973): Representing lesbianism in the 1970s

(Text of a paper given by Billy Smart at ‘Television for Women’, University of Warwick, 17 May 2013) What I’m going to do today is present a long-forgotten drama of some significance to you and – through close textual analysis … Continue reading

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Doctor Who: Warriors’ Gate (1981), Jean Cocteau and the realm of videographic fantasy

  (Text of a paper given by Billy Smart at ‘Walking in Eternity’, University of Hertfordshire, 3 September 2013) What I’m going to do today is examine the spatial realisation of a fantastical world in the 1981 Doctor Who story, … Continue reading

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Spaces of Television researchers uncover ‘lost’ Ken Loach film

Spaces of Television researchers Leah Panos and Billy Smart today had the happy experience of coming across a 1973 BBC programme long believed to be lost, including a film directed by Ken Loach (featuring an early performance by Ben Kingsley). … Continue reading

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Bob Baker interview and Spaces of Television panel at ‘Childhood and the Media’ conference at Leicester, 18 July

Professor James Chapman, co-investigator for the Spaces of Television project, will interview television writer, Bob Baker, as part of the programme for this year’s International Association for Media and History conference which runs from the 17th to the 20th July … Continue reading

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Darrol Blake Interview Part III: Thirty Years Of Directing Soap Operas

In July 2011 Leah Panos and myself had the good fortune to interview veteran television director Darrol Blake in his Barnes Bridge home. In a career that spans fifty years, Darrol started as a Design Assistant at the BBC in … Continue reading

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Darrol Blake Interview Part II: Directing for the BBC and Thames Television in the 1960s and 1970s

In July 2011 Leah Panos and myself had the good fortune to interview veteran television director Darrol Blake in his Barnes Bridge home. In a career that spans fifty years, Darrol started as a Design Assistant at the BBC in … Continue reading

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Darrol Blake Interview Part I: Designing for the BBC in the 1950s and 1960s

In July 2011 Leah Panos and myself had the good fortune to interview veteran television director Darrol Blake in his Barnes Bridge home. In a career that spans fifty years, Darrol started as a Design Assistant at the BBC in … Continue reading

Posted in Interviews, People | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments