Spaces of television - Production, site and style

This research project is funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and runs from July 2010 to March 2014. It concerns television fiction produced in the UK from 1955-94. It analyses how spaces of production (in TV studios and on location) conditioned the form and visual style of programmes, and how fictional spaces represented on screen used the opportunities and constraints of studio and exterior space, film and video technologies, and liveness and recording. So, for example, we investigate the histories of BBC studios in London and the regions, the sound-stages where programmes for ITV were made, and location shooting of drama series and serials. Genres of programme studied include the police and adventure series, science fiction, period costume drama and sitcom.

People

The Principal Investigator leading the project as a whole is Professor Jonathan Bignell - Department of Film, Theatre and Television  (University of Reading), working with Co-Investigators Professor James Chapman (University of Leicester) and Professor Stephen Lacey (University of Glamorgan). There are two Postdoctoral Research Assistants based at the University of Reading, Leah Panos and Billy Smart. There are also two PhD students in the team, one based at Glamorgan and one at Leicester.

Topics and research questions

Some issues addressed in the project include:

• How archival work can trace the history of production spaces in British TV.
• How TV assimilated spaces and uses of space from cinema (e.g., using film studios, location shooting, film cameras and directors).
• Comparisons between videotaped and filmed television in terms of their uses of space.
• How the changing uses of the TV studio affected the performance styles of actors.
• How production spaces and technologies impacted on the work of directors.
• Comparisons across genres, institutions and periods to chart how uses and representations of space change over time.
• What testimony from TV production staff and performers can tell us about spatial opportunities and constraints.

Results of the research

The project's published outcomes will include an edited collection of chapters presenting results of the research, and a special issue of an academic journal. There will also be other articles and chapters published by the research team. We will hold two one-day conferences and one three-day conference during our three years of work. Further information about research results and events will be posted on this page.

For further information please contact:

Professor Jonathan Bignell J.Bignell@reading.ac.uk

Professor James Chapman jrc28@le.ac.uk

Professor Stephen Lacey swlacey@glam.ac.uk

'Performance and Television Space' one-day conference

The second symposium arising from the research will take place at the University of Glamorgan on Friday 20 April 2012.

Advance booking is essential, and details of the event and a booking form can be downloaded here.

'Politics of Television Space' one-day conference

The first symposium arising from the research took place at the University of Leicester on Friday 8 April 2011.  Details of the speakers and papers can be downloaded here.