Sabina Broadbent & Michael Simons, Talk on the Box: Talk Shows, Interviews and Speeches (London: English and Media Centre, 2000).
Edward Buscombe (ed.), British Television: A Reader (Oxford: OUP, 1995).
John Corner, Popular Television in Britain (London: BFI, 1991).
Andrew Crisell, An Introductory History of British Broadcasting (London: Routledge, 1997).
John Fiske, Television Culture (London: Methuen, 1987).
Michael Kaye & Andrew Popperwell, Making Radio: A Guide to Basic Broadcasting and Production Techniques (London: Broadside Books, 1992).
Roy Thompson, Grammar of the Edit (Oxford: Focal Press, 1993).
Roy Thompson, Grammar of the Shot (Oxford: Focal Press, 1993).
Martin Shingler & Cindy Wieringa, On Air: Methods and Meanings in Radio (London: Arnold, 1999).

This module introduces you to a number of popular broadcast programme forms and styles, and begins to examine their historical significance, modes of address, textual construction and reception. These will be considered through a range of historical, critical and theoretical elements and their practical application to both radio and television. The development of broadcast media will be identified through the ways in which the production of texts have been affected by their institutional, political, social and cultural contexts in order to establish the interconnectedness of texts and contexts.

The forms for analysis will include both non-fiction and fiction such as: documentary, music, news, talks, entertainment and drama. The content of these programme forms will be considered through a range of different examples and case studies to establish how meaning is being anchored through the relationship between form and content. The development of popular forms will be considered through their contemporary focus, as well as offering an insight into their historical significance and future developments.

The module also identifies the link between the creative development of programmes and their adopted forms, and the available technologies and hardware that broadcasters have applied to their work.

A critical analysis of a programme form, through a consideration of its historical and contemporary significance.

There will be a series of weekly workshops, seminars and screenings, allowing you to consider the different programme forms. There will be a series of non-assessed pieces of work, which will provide you with a basis for the final piece of assessment.

Library, Media Lab access, TV/DVD/Video/Audio playback facilities.