Doctor Who
British Tv Fiction And Its Role In Society Explored At University Of Leicester Conference On 8 April
The success of diverse dramas in recent times, such as Spooks, Doctor Who and Downton Abbey, signals the increased critical interest in TV drama since the 1960s.
A one-day conference at the University of Leicester on Friday, 8 April, will focus on the production of television fiction in the UK and explore the relationship between television drama and society to highlight the importance of television as a medium of social communication.
Hosted by the University’s Department of History of Art and Film, the conference entitled ‘Politics of Television Space’ is the first symposium to emerge from a four-year research project ‘Spaces of Television – Production, Site and Style’, which analyses British television fiction produced from 1955 to 1994 and how the style and look is determined by the contexts of production.
With lead investigator Professor Jonathan Bignell from the University of Reading and co-investigators Professor James Chapman from the University of Leicester and Professor Stephen Lacey from the University of Glamorgan, the research project aims to analyse the interdependence between production spaces, such as TV studios and on location, and fictional spaces represented on screen.
The conference keynote speaker will be Peter Hutchings, Professor of Film Studies at Northumbria University and author of Hammer and Beyond: The British Horror Film, speaking on ‘Dangerous Spaces: Studios, videos and the 1970s psychological thriller’.
Guest speakers Howard Schuman (writer of Rock Follies, Selling Hitler and many single plays) and Piers Haggard (director of Pennies from Heaven, The Quatermass Conclusion) will discuss their experiences of working in a variety of production contexts and environments.
In addition, papers will be presented on many well-known dramas, such as Doctor Who, Love Thy Neighbour, In Two Minds, Eleventh Hour, and the portrayals of the House of Commons and rural Britain.
Leicester’s Professor of Film Studies, Professor Chapman, commented:
“The symposium will show we needn’t confine ourselves to looking at just ‘serious’ or ‘quality’ drama to identify programmes that engage with social and cultural issues. Examples include how ‘race’ is problematised in sitcoms such as Love Thy Neighbour, Doctor Who as a vehicle for exploring the rise of the surveillance society, and Captain Scarlet as an example of Cold War cultural propaganda.”
The research project ‘Spaces of Television – Production, Site and Style’ is funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council and runs from July 2010 to March 2014.
The team will publish the outcomes of the project, such as the observations and investigations of BBC studios in London and the regions, the sound-stages and location shooting of police, adventure and drama series, science fiction, period costume drama and sitcom. Two one-day conferences and one three-day conference will be held during the lengthy research work.
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