“This fascinating and insightful study offers new perspectives on established histories of British TV drama. Its blend of detailed analysis of landmark programmes with interviewees’ testimonies, and records of the technologies and working methods in programme production make it essential reading for anyone studying British television.”
--Professor Jonathan Bignell, University of Reading, United Kingdom
This book investigates a crucial transition in British television drama: the move from studio to location, and from videotape to film, a shift that occurred predominantly in the 1970s. It explores the main production paradigms of 1970s television: multi-camera studio video, Outside Broadcast video, and 16mm film. It combines archival research, textual analysis and original interviews with television pioneers such as Alvin Rakoff, Herbert Wise and Margaret Matheson. The book provides production histories and critical analysis of three landmark serials: I, Claudius (BBC 1976), The Mayor of Casterbridge (BBC 1978) and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (BBC 1979).
Dr. Douglas McNaughton is a senior lecturer at the University of Brighton. His research interests include the political economy of television production and representations of space and place in British screen cultures. His publications include work on television‘s production spaces, Scottish identity on screen, and British folk horror television.
This book investigates a crucial transition in British television drama: the move from studio to location, and from videotape to film, a shift that occurred predominantly in the 1970s. It explores the main production paradigms of 1970s television: multi-camera studio video, Outside Broadcast video, and 16mm film. It combines archival research, textual analysis and original interviews with television pioneers such as Alvin Rakoff, Herbert Wise and Margaret Matheson. The book provides production histories and critical analysis of three landmark serials: I, Claudius (BBC 1976), The Mayor of Casterbridge (BBC 1978) and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (BBC 1979).
Douglas McNaughton
television drama BBC film videotape studio location multi camera outside broadcast directing editing style aesthetics poetics space place
“This fascinating and insightful study offers new perspectives on established histories of British TV drama. Its blend of detailed analysis of landmark programmes with interviewees’ testimonies, and records of the technologies and working methods in programme production make it essential reading for anyone studying British television.” (Professor Jonathan Bignell, University of Reading, United Kingdom)