Module Information

Module Identifier
FM31020
Module Title
Screening the Brave New World: television in 20th-century Britain
Academic Year
2025/2026
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 1
Reading List

Course Delivery

 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Essay  2000 Words  60%
Semester Assessment Report  This will be an exercise whereby students research a particular genre or format using sources such as the Radio Times or BBC Genome 1500 Words  40%
Supplementary Assessment Essay  2000 Words  60%
Supplementary Assessment Report  1500 Words  40%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

Demonstrate, through work in seminars and in written work, an advanced understanding of the history and development of television as a mass medium

Write a coherent, critically-informed essay using correct referencing style

Engage with primary historical sources on a critical level

Brief description

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.

Aims

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.

Content

Lectures and seminars will include the following topics:

Britain after the Second World War
Restarting the television service
Breaking the monopoly: ITV
Event television (the 1948 Olympics, 1953 Coronation)
Screening the regions and nations
Early genre formats (e.g. soap opera - 'The Grove Family', 'Coronation Street)
Television in the home
Television's audiences - who was watching what?

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Creative Problem Solving This will be developed in seminars
Critical and analytical thinking This will be developed in seminars and assessed in both assignments
Reflection Students will reflect on their own learning in the essay assignment
Subject Specific Skills Students will develop skills in historical source analysis

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6