Introductory description

Television History and Criticism aims to enable your further exploration of television as a historical, critical and theoretical object of study and follows on from the work some of you have done on Visual Cultures. The module covers histories of and programming from the earliest days of broadcast television through to the contemporary shift to digital distribution formats.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

This is an indicative syllabus and subject to variation depending on module tutor, current research and various other factors:

Week One: Introduction to the module: television, history, nostalgia – TV on Trial:1955 (BBC4, 2005); Auntie, The Inside Story of the BBC (BBC1, 1997) episode 2 ‘Growing Pains, 1945-60’; 100 Greatest Television Moments (Channel 4, 1999); An Adventure in Space and Time (BBC2, 25/12/13)
Week Two: Television historiography 1: television production and institutional histories – the BBC – The Hour (BBC2, 2011-13)
Week Three: Television in the museum: curating television history – no screening, field trip to National Science and Media Museum, Bradford
Week Four: Television historiography 2: television programming and its cultural impact – no screening, archive work
Week Five: History television and the celebrity historian - Civilisation (BBC2, 1969) – episode 1 ‘The Skin of Our Teeth’; A History of Britain (BBC1/History Channel, 2000-2) – episode 7 ‘The Body of the Queen’; If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home (BBC4, 2011)
Week Seven: Family history/Reality history - Who Do You Think You Are? (BBC2, 2004-) – ‘Stephen Fry’; ‘Upstairs Downstairs’ The Edwardian Country House (Wall to Wall/Channel 4, 2002)
Week Eight: Fictions of the Past 1 - Historical costume drama in the 1960s and 1970s - Culloden (15/12/64) Upstairs Downstairs (LWT, UK, 1971-5) – episode ‘The Nine Days Wonder’ (LWT, tx. 2/10/75)
Week Nine: Fictions of the Past 2 - Contemporary heritage drama - Downton Abbey (Carnival Productions for ITV, 2010-11) episode 1, Casanova (BBC3/Red/Power, UK, 2005); The Crown (Netflix, 2016-)
Week Ten: Looking back - Television and the 1970s – the nation as viewing family - The 70s (BBC, 2012), Cradle to Grave, Episode 3 (BBC, 2015-)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• By the end of the module you will be developing an ability to identify and define appropriate research questions.
• By the end of the module, you will have a detailed understanding of the theoretical and conceptual issues studied and be able to communicate these clearly and with precision.
• By the end of the module you will be able to confidently test and apply your knowledge of a range of different areas of television history, theory and analysis.
• By the end of the module you will have a confident understanding of the history of a range of different television genres, concepts and debates.
• By the end of the module you will be able to offer critical, evaluative textual analyses of a range of different forms of television.

Indicative reading list

• Susan Barrowclough and Raphael Samuel (1981) ‘History and Television: editorial introduction’ in History Workshop Journal, 12, pp. 172–176.
• Amy Holdsworth (2011) ‘Safe Returns: Nostalgia and Television’ in her Television, Memory and Nostalgia, (Palgrave Macmillan) pp. 96-126
• Tim O’Sullivan (1998) ‘Nostalgia, Revelation and Intimacy: Tendencies in the Flow of Modern Popular Television’ in Geraghty and Lusted (eds) The Television Studies Book, (Arnold) pp. 197-209.
• Hatherley, Owen, The Ministry of Nostalgia, Paperback (London and New York: Verso, 2017)
• Hewison, Robert, The Heritage Industry: Britain in a Climate of Decline (London: Methuen London Ltd., 1987)
• Thorpe, V. ‘How filming the agony of Aberfan for The Crown revealed a village still in trauma’. The Guardian. 17 November 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/nov/17/television-dramathe-crown-portrays-aberfan-disaster
• Burton, Alice. ‘The True Story of the Aberfan Disaster in The Crown Season 3’. Vulture. 20 November 2019.
• Williams, R. and Willians, D (eds). Who Speaks for Wales? Nation, Culture, Identity. University of Wales Press, 2003.
• Frame, Gregory. The American President in Film and Television: Myth Politics and Representation. New York: Peter Lang Publishers, 2018.
• Kaufman, Rachel, ‘Buckle Up, History Nerds — “Timeless” Is Back and As Usual, Gets the Facts Mostly Right’, Smithsonian https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/buckle-history-nerdstimeless-back-and-usual-gets-facts-mostly-right-180968447/ [accessed 13 December 2018]
• Aufderheide, Patricia, Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2007)
• MacDonald, S. [2006] 2016. Up Close and Political: Three Short Ruminations on Ideology in the Nature Film. In: Kahana, J. ed. The Documentary Film Reader: History, Theory, Criticism. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, pp.969-983.
• Bury, Rhiannon. Television 2.0: Viewer and Fan Engagement with Digital TV. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2017.
• O’Donnell, V. Television Criticism. 3rd edition. SAGE Publishing, 2016.

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

This module develops skills of audio-visual literacy, through close textual and/or contextual analysis in relation to the moving image and sound. It may also develops understandings of historical, theoretical and conceptual frameworks relevant to screen arts and cultures.

Transferable skills

• critical and analytical thinking in relation
• independent research skills
• team work
• clarity and effectiveness of communication, oral and written
• accurate, concise and persuasive writing
• audio-visual literacy