Style in British Television Drama

173 Pages·2013·2.052 MB·English

by  Lez Cooke (auth.)

The Palgrave Macmillan
Style in British Television
Drama
Lez Cooke
Style in British Television Drama
PalgraveCloseReadingsinFilmandTelevision
Series Editors: John Gibbs is Head of Department and Douglas Pye Senior
VisitingFellowintheDepartmentofFilm,Theatre&TelevisionattheUni-
versity of Reading. Their previous collaborations include Style and Meaning:
StudiesintheDetailedAnalysisofFilmandtheseriesClose-Up.
Advisory Board: Jonathan Bignell, University of Reading, UK, Joe
McElhaney, Hunter College, City University of New York, USA, Edward
Gallafent,UniversityofWarwick,UK,AndrewKlevan,UniversityofOxford,
UK, Adrian Martin, Monash University, Australia, George M. Wilson,
USC,USA
Palgrave Close Readings in Film and Television is an innovative new series of
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methodsandsubjectsofdetailedcriticism.
Volumesintheseries–writtenfromavarietyofstandpointsanddealingwith
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andtopicsinthefield,butalsotostrengtheninganddevelopingtheconcep-
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inthebeliefthat,whileascrupulousattentiontothetextureoffilmandtele-
visionprogrammesrequiresthefocusofconceptandtheory,thediscoveries
thatsuchattentionproducesbecomevitalinquestioningandre-formulating
theoryandconcept.
LezCooke
STYLEINBRITISHTELEVISIONDRAMA
EdwardGallafent
LETTERSANDLITERACYINHOLLYWOODFILM
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Style in British Television
Drama
Lez Cooke
RoyalHolloway,UniversityofLondon,UK
©LezCooke2013
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-26591-3
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Contents
ListofIllustrations viii
Acknowledgements xii
Introduction 1
1 NineteenEighty-Four(BBC,1954) 7
2 CoronationStreet (ITV,1960) 29
3 TheBond(BBC1,1965) 41
4 UpstairsDownstairs(ITV,1971) 61
5 BarMitzvahBoy(BBC1,1976) 79
6 Middlemarch(BBC2,1994) 94
7 ThisLife(BBC2,1996) 106
8 Births,MarriagesandDeaths(BBC2,1999) 116
9 Teachers(Channel4,2001) 125
Conclusion 139
Appendix1:SelectGlossaryofTechnicalTerms 145
Appendix2:AverageShotLengths 147
NotesandReferences 148
Bibliography 155
Index 158
vii
Illustrations
1.1 WinstonSmith(PeterCushing)inthecanteenscene
fromNineteenEighty-Four(courtesyoftheBBC) 15
1.2 WinstonandSyme(DonaldPleasance)(courtesyof
theBBC) 16
1.3 WinstonisdistractedbyJulia(YvonneMitchell)
(courtesyoftheBBC) 18
1.4 Parsons(CampbellGray)joinsWinstonandSymeat
thetable(courtesyoftheBBC) 20
1.5 ParsonsblocksourviewofSyme(courtesyof
theBBC) 21
1.6 Watchingthetelescreen(courtesyoftheBBC) 22
1.7 ‘Careful,facecrime...’:Winstonthinkinghis
subversivethoughts(courtesyoftheBBC) 23
2.1 TheBarlowfamilyatdinnerinCoronationStreet
(courtesyofITVStudios) 32
2.2 KenBarlow–scholarshipboy(courtesyofITV
Studios) 33
2.3 FrankBarlowreactstoKen’slook(courtesyofITV
Studios) 33
2.4 MrsBarlowtriestomediatebetweenfatherandson
(courtesyofITVStudios) 35
2.5 Atwo-shotregistersKen’saversiontobrownsauce
(courtesyofITVStudios) 35
2.6 Thespaceisre-establishedfromadifferentangle
(courtesyofITVStudios) 36
2.7 DavidBarlowentersthescene(courtesyofITV
Studios) 39
3.1 AcrowdedSundaydinnertableinTheBond(courtesy
oftheBBC/BFI) 45
3.2 Dissectingthespace(courtesyoftheBBC/BFI) 46
3.3 MSofMadgeandEdie(courtesyoftheBBC/BFI) 47
3.4 Movingintothespace(courtesyoftheBBC/BFI) 48
3.5 Anawkwardframing(courtesyoftheBBC/BFI) 49
viii
ListofIllustrations ix
3.6 Reframingtofollowtheconversation(courtesyofthe
BBC/BFI) 50
3.7 Sally’sgrandmotherandmotherreframed(courtesy
oftheBBC/BFI) 52
3.8 Anewperspective–notethatSallyistheonlyone
noteating(courtesyoftheBBC/BFI) 54
3.9 BCUofSallyregistersherdiscomfort(courtesyofthe
BBC/BFI) 55
3.10 Sally’sGranindeepfocusasSybilreminiscesabout
theolddays(courtesyoftheBBC/BFI) 56
4.1 TheopeningshotofthedinnertablesceneinUpstairs
Downstairs(courtesyofITVStudios) 66
4.2 MSofthecoachman,Pearce(BrianOsborne)
(courtesyofITVStudios) 66
4.3 Hudson(GordonJackson)arriveswithSarah(Pauline
Collins)(courtesyofITVStudios) 67
4.4 Sarahreactstotheblessingbeforethemeal(courtesy
ofITVStudios) 68
4.5 MLSfromtheotherendofthetable(courtesyofITV
Studios) 69
4.6 HudsonnoticesthatSarahisnotpraying(courtesyof
ITVStudios) 69
4.7 Hudsonservesthesoup(courtesyofITVStudios) 70
4.8 MSofEmily,fromthecamerainthekitchen
(courtesyofITVStudios) 72
4.9 Rose,MrsBridgesandArthurreacttoSarahsingingin
French(courtesyofITVStudios) 75
4.10 Sarahcontinuessinging(courtesyofITVStudios) 76
4.11 Azoomintoatwo-shotofSarahandRoseendsthe
scene(courtesyofITVStudios) 76
5.1 TheopeningshotofthedinnertablesceneinBar
MitzvahBoy(courtesyoftheBBC) 81
5.2 Theotherfamilymembersarerevealed(courtesyof
theBBC) 82
5.3 ‘Myhair,it’sruined,youcanallsay,I’mnotsensitive,
Ilookterrible’(courtesyoftheBBC) 83
5.4 LesleyandHaroldreact(courtesyoftheBBC) 84
5.5 Eliot(JeremySteyn),framedbytheSabbathcandles
(courtesyoftheBBC) 85