Publisher Description

During the fertile decade 1955-65 the television institution emerged in a form which would be familiar for the next half century: this book attends to two aspects of its formation. The first entails the production strategies, programmes, schedules, and emergent generic modes as these were invented through a process of trial and error, allied to a close attention to building the mass audience - in short the question of how television invented itself. The secondaspect concerns the place of women and the concept 'feminine' in the new institution. Television offered women access to the public sphere in ways that were potentially disruptive of the order prevailingin mid-1950s Britain. Apart from new employment opportunities, images of women and definitions of the feminine were purveyed nightly to an heterogeneous audience of millions, an audience that was itself under construction throughout the period. Through close attention to three discrete areas of programming (women's programmes, news and current affairs, and popular drama), the book aims to convey a sense of the excitement entailed in establishing the institution and to ask where and how it mayhave posed challenges to the prevailing patriarchal hegemony. Hence the productive interplay of two terms, television and the feminine, both of which were evolving rapidly during the period, isexplored in the context of the contemporary discursive climate.

Author Biography

Janet Thumim is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Drama at the University of Bristol.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Early Television Culture in the UK1: The Formation of Television in the UK 1955-652: Factual Programming3: Factual Programmes: 'The Wednesday Magazine', 'Panorama', 'Marriage Today', 'Living for Kicks'4: Drama for the Mass Audience5: Popular Drama: 'The Grove Family', 'Life with the Lyons', 'Dixon of Dock Green'6: Women, Work, and Television

Promotional

Brilliantly illuminates TV's role in Britain by revealing the interplay of media and the feminine

Long Description

During the fertile decade 1955-65 the television institution emerged in a form which would be familiar for the next half century: this book attends to two aspects of its formation. The first entails the production strategies, programmes, schedules, and emergent generic modes as these were invented through a process of trial and error, allied to a close attention to building the mass audience - in short the question of how television invented itself. The second
aspect concerns the place of women and the concept 'feminine' in the new institution. Television offered women access to the public sphere in ways that were potentially disruptive of the order prevailing in mid-1950s Britain. Apart from new employment opportunities, images of women and definitions of
the feminine were purveyed nightly to an heterogeneous audience of millions, an audience that was itself under construction throughout the period. Through close attention to three discrete areas of programming (women's programmes, news and current affairs, and popular drama), the book aims to convey a sense of the excitement entailed in establishing the institution and to ask where and how it may have posed challenges to the prevailing patriarchal hegemony. Hence the productive interplay of
two terms, television and the feminine, both of which were evolving rapidly during the period, is explored in the context of the contemporary discursive climate.

Promotional "Headline"

Introduction: Early Television Culture in the UK 1. The Formation of Television in the UK 1955-65 2. Factual Programming 3. Factual Programmes: 'The Wednesday Magazine', 'Panorama', 'Marriage Today', 'Living for Kicks' 4. Drama for the Mass Audience 5. Popular Drama: 'The Grove Family', 'Life with the Lyons', 'Dixon of Dock Green' 6. Women, Work, and Television

Feature

Through close attention to selected programmes the book outlines the formation of the television institution in the UK from 1955, when ITV commenced broadcasting, to 1965 after the Pilkington Report and the start of BBC2.
The interaction of television and the feminine is explored against the background of the discursive climate of the UK between 1955-65.

Details