"This exciting book goes to the heart of a creative commercial and public service culture - it shows why ITV matters and how it was made to work so well. A tremendous contribution."
Professor Jean Seaton, University of Westminster "This is a valuable addition to studies of ITV's history and programming..."
Tom O'Malley, Professor of Media Studies, University of Wales, Aberyswyth, and Co-Editor of "Media History." Since breaking the BBC's monopoly in 1955, ITV has been at the centre of the British television landscape. To coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the first ITV broadcast, this accessible book offers a range of perspectives on the complex and multifaceted history of Britain's first commercial broadcaster.
The book explores key tensions and conflicts which have influenced the ITV service. Chapters focus on particular institutions, including London Weekend Television and ITN, and programme forms, including "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Upstairs Downstairs "and "Trisha." The contributors show that ITV has had to tread an uneasy line between public service and commercial imperatives, between a pluralistic regional structure and a national network, and between popular appeal and quality programming. A timeline of key events in the history of ITV is also included.
"ITV Cultures" provides a timely intervention in debates on broadcasting and cultural history for academics and researchers, and a lively introduction to the history of ITV for students and general readers.
" Contributors: Rod Allen, City University; Jonathan Bignell, University of Reading; John Ellis, Royal Holloway, University of London; Jackie Harrison, University of Sheffield; Jamie Medhurst, University of Wales, Aberystwyth; Matt Hills, Cardiff University; Steve Neale, University of Exeter; Helen Wheatley, University of Reading; Sherryl Wilson, Bournemouth University.
About the Author: Dr Catherine Johnson is Lecturer in Television History and Theory, Department of Media Arts, Royal Holloway, University of London. She has published on factual entertainment, US television drama, and early British television. She is also the author of "Telefantasy "(2005: BFI).
Rob Turnock is Lecturer in Media Theory, Bournemouth Media School, Bournemouth University. He was formerly post-doctoral research fellow on the AHRB funded project "Did ITV Revolutionise British Television?." He is author of "Television and Consumer Culture: Britain and the Transformation of Modernity "(forthcoming: I.B. Tauris), and of "Interpreting Diana: Television Audiences and the Death of a Princess "(2000: BFI).
