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- Stephen Clayton on Roger Marshall interview Part II: ‘Missing From Home’ (1984) and Douglas Camfield
- Colin birch on Roger Marshall interview Part I: ‘Public Eye’
- Ken Key on Recording ‘Public Eye’ (ABC) on location in Birmingham (1966)
- Claire C on ‘Dead of Night: The Exorcism’ (BBC, 1972)
- Robert Milner on ‘Dead of Night: The Exorcism’ (BBC, 1972)
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Recent Posts
- Costume and space: Inspector Morse in his pyjamas
- Landscape in the Studio: Play for Today: Desert of Lies (BBC, 13/3/84)
- The Stripped-Down Studio Space: Play for Today: Psy-Warriors (BBC, 12/5/81) & Centre Play: The Saliva Milkshake (BBC, 6/1/75)
- Mixing Genres in the Studio: Playhouse: The Journal of Bridget Hitler (BBC2, 6/2/81)
- Studio trickery: Censored Scenes From King Kong (BBC, 1973) & Play For Today: The After Dinner Joke (BBC, 14/02/78)
Category Archives: Series
Costume and space: Inspector Morse in his pyjamas
In the process of thinking through how Morse’s domestic space is presented across the course of four series, I have been struck by particular consistencies of how Inspector Morse is presented in his home, specifically the number of times he … Continue reading
‘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
Posted in Series
Tagged Hunters Walk, ITV, Naturalism, Police series, Rape narratives, Ted Willis, Troy Kennedy Martin
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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
Posted in Series
Tagged CSO, Doctor Who, Fairy Tale, Jean Cocteau, La Belle et la Bete, Orphee, Steve Gallagher, Warriors' Gate
2 Comments
Temple of Doom: Paul Temple (BBC, 1969-71)
(Review of The Paul Temple Black & White Collection, originally published on Tachyon TV, 2012) A common game played by fans of old British TV drama is identifying rival copycat productions in the eternal competition between the BBC and ITV. … Continue reading
Excited about apathy: Red Letter Day (Granada, 1976)
(Review of Red Letter Day: The Complete Series, originally published on Tachyon TV, 2011) Thanks to the canonical status of the BBC’s Wednesday Play and Play for Today, people have a selective memory when it comes to the single play. … Continue reading
Posted in Series, Single Plays
Tagged C.P. Taylor, Donald Churchill, Granada, Howard Schuman, Jack Rosenthal, Joe Melia, Neville Smith, Red Letter Day
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Plot inflation in Greater Weatherfield: Coronation Street in the 1990s
Snooping on Don Brennan from the Back Garden: Watching Coronation Street in the 1990s. For much of my twenties in the 1990s and early 2000s, before my eventual career as a Television Studies academic, I worked as a library assistant. … Continue reading
Recording ‘Public Eye’ (ABC) on location in Birmingham (1966)
Few major British television drama series of the 1960s have a worse survival rate than that of the first three series of Public Eye (ABC, 1965-68/ Thames 1969-75). Of the 41 episodes of the first three series made by … Continue reading