Today's lesson (which I reflect upon across the jump) comes in the shape of a substantial quote from a Times interview by Libby Purves (£) last week with the director of the National Theatre Nick Hytner. Talking of more
Even if I neglect the blog on other days (and apologies for that, it's just a very busy time right now), the list of links needs to be offered each Sunday. I rarely embed audio clips here (mostly because I more
It's got to be Girls for the lead. The most recent episode of Lena Dunham's HBO series, titled 'One man's trash', lit up my Twitter like nothing else last week (except maybe that meteor, on which you need more
I thought others might do this to mark the anniversary today of the publication of Jane Austen's great and glorious Pride and Prejudice. But as I've yet to see such an anthology, I thought I would make one for myself - more
Why is the work of one of our greatest filmmakers - the director Alan Clarke - all but invisible? This is not a new question. Nor do I have anything original by way of an answer. But the issue is much more
In another post from the blog's archive (previously published on 17 July 2010) I take a look at the visual arts on BBC Television between 1936 and 1939. I was reminded of this because I am teaching again at the more
As regulars will know, I occasionally highlight earlier blog posts when they feel newly relevant. My reason today for returning to a 2008 post about the influential documentary maker John Read who died in 2011 is that I am teaching more
Hard though it is to believe, it is nearly seventeen years since we went backstage at the Royal Opera House in the BBC fly-on-the-wall series The House. Michael Kaiser, who later became general director of Covent Garden, summed more
Once again it's the time of the year when I look back to see what lay ahead for viewers fifty years ago. Twelve months ago I posted The TV year ahead... 1962, and our blog archive has my more
This seasonal post is an edited version of one that I wrote last year for the blog of the research project about theatre plays on British television, Screen Plays. I hope it is sufficiently entertaining to bear repeating here. What more