Module Information

This module will consider the role of television in British society during the 20th century. It will explore how television gradually became a popular domestic medium in the period after the Second World War and how television formats with which we are familiar today developed during this period. The political, social, and cultural contexts of television will also be studied as will the ways in which audiences across Britain engaged with television as a medium for informing, educating and entertaining. We will explore how television expanded across Britain and how different regions and nations were ‘screened’. One of the key characteristics of television during this period was its ‘liveness' and we will be looking at specific moments such as the 1948 Olympic Games, the 1953 Coronation and the 1969 moon landings as televisual events. Developments on the international stage will also be considered.

The aim of this module is to allow students to engage critically with debates over the expansion of television in the period after the Second World War and to gain a greater understanding of the ways in which television developed as a domestic medium.