People following the last few weeks of the Critical Studies in Television blog will have seen my brilliant colleagues discussing the essential work that they have been able to do thanks to the previous researcher-led access arrangements at the BBC Written Archives. I was particularly struck last week by Kate Murphy’s account of her journey […]| CST Online
My first visit to the BBC’s Written Archives Centre was in 2002. I was working as a producer on Woman’s Hourand had applied for a three-month attachment to what was then the Diversity Centre, to research and write a history of women at the BBC. Hardly anything was known back then, especially of the early […]| CST Online
Those of you that have been reading CSTonline for a while will know that I have been in the USA for the past 6 years. I was employed (as an American TV scholar) to write a Master’s Programme in TV Studies. In the first 6 months of being there the pandemic hit and I was […]| CST Online
Around the world, sports journalism is dominated by men. In 2018, Sky Sports in Britain recognized that: ‘At recent press conferences for the leading football clubs in the Premier League…| CST Online
In August 2022, I secured a slot at the BBC Written Archives Centre (WAC) in Caversham to look at the archives for Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan (BBC1, 1968-1982). This was a groundbreaking programme produced for the British Asian diaspora. On Sunday mornings, families congregated in front of the television and watched the news bulletins, political […]| CST Online
Imagine, if you will, the following scene playing out on a television screen: A trial is underway in a courtroom. The defendant is being cross-examined by a sharp-dressed lawyer, who lists the felonies and misdemeanours the defendant has been charged with in the past. The lawyer also mentions that the defendant is behind in his […]| CST Online
In a book chapter I recently had published (Beattie 2025) I discuss how seminal British sitcom Desmond’s (1989-1994, Channel 4) illustrates how barbershops function as both community anchors and as sites of cultural education for Black communities. In particular, I focused upon how the series engages with both issues relating to migrant communities and the […]| CST Online
Warning: This article is divided into two parts but both have detailed descriptions of sexual violence in the book and TV series, Rivals. In episode one of the 2024 television period drama Rivals, middle-aged Lizzie Vereker (Katherine Parkinson) tells her new 20-year-old neighbor, Taggie O’Hara (Bella Maclean), “It’s 1986. You can have whatever you want—so Cosmo tells us”.[i] This line […]| CST Online
This past March, Fox News personality Jesse Watters, who first came to fame as the pundit Bill O’Reilly’s ambush interview man, earned considerable mockery when he introduced his “rules for men” on the weekday roundtable show, The Five. Hedging his remarks by suggesting that “they’re just funny, they’re not that serious,” Watters went on to […]| CST Online
When the creation of the BBC Written Archives Centre in Caversham was agreed, at a meeting of the Board of Management on 17 November 1969, it was done so with a view to history. Kenneth Lamb…| CST Online
The look of the stylish British spy and detective shows, filmed in colour in the 1960s, results from where and how they were made, and pop sensation Cliff Richard had a lot to do with it.| CST Online
How might we illustrate, explore, and begin to define the ‘state of the nation’ film and television text? This edited collection, in collaboration with Intellect, invites consideration of these questions. We are particularly keen for considerations of contemporary nominees such as Adolescence (2025) and Mr Bates vs The Post Office (2024). The contours of the […]| CST Online
After Invincible’s fifteen-year run as a comics series (Image Comics/Skybound, 2003-18), creator Robert Kirkman and TV writer Simon Racioppa pitched an adaptation to Amazon Prime Video. Their ongoing animated superhero drama series, which has run for three seasons so far (2021, 2023-25), is an undeniable success. Rotten Tomatoes rates the seasons at or near 100% […]| CST Online
The European audiovisual landscape is complex, with a huge variety of content providers and a traditionally strong public service. While only about 10% of all European providers feature public…| CST Online
“It’s like putting two insects together in a jar and seeing what happens…” (Hill, 2014: 3). When we are asked to define reality television this is often the analogy that comes to mind; it is a spectacle, rooted in the unscripted, unknown and unfiltered, tapping into the viewers deep psychological need for escapism, guilty pleasures […]| CST Online
Edward G Robinson’s gangster Johnny Rocco in Key Largo (John Huston, 1948) seems uncertain when asked by Humphrey Bogart and Lionel Barrymore’s sequestered characters what he wants. But after some prompting, he comes up with ‘That’s it. I want more.’ Mindless acquisitiveness matches his mendacity and violence. And that’s the story with the discreditable alliance […]| CST Online
Richard Wallis and Christa van Raalte argue for greater honesty and pragmatism in addressing the talent pipeline. The prominence of the creative industries in the UK government’s industrial strategy as one of eight growth sectors to be prioritised will be welcomed by most of us involved in screen education. It is as yet unclear, however, […]| CST Online
In this second podcast, David and Elke are looking at Governance in Crisis – as governance that is troubled but also governance in a period of crisis. We examine the issue of crisis itself and what…| CST Online
Disclaimer: This blog post is derived from the research presented at the 9th International Visual Methods Conference, at Istanbul, Turkey. Despite notable increases in LGBTQ+ representation across streaming platforms, narratives centred on queer adolescence remain frequently dominated by trauma-centric tropes that prioritise crisis and suffering over authenticity and multifaceted experience (Kashyap, 2024). Netflix’s Heartstopper (2022–2025), […]| CST Online
I first started writing this blog some weeks ago after I was lucky enough to be invited along to a review performance of the Broadway stage play, Good Night, and Good Luck. Thanks to my friendship with David Bianculli, who always gets the best tickets, I found myself in the audience of a truly astonishing […]| CST Online
Should a series be watched in production, broadcast, or some other order? Most viewers will never consider this question, only turning their minds to the order in which episodes are aired or queued up…| CST Online
Everyone is talking about Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne’s latest venture: the 4-part series, Adolescence, that hit Netflix screens on March 13th. And what a series it is. I’m not going to go too much…| CST Online
