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Sensing the City Through Television

Sensing the City Through Television

Peter Billingham

(2003)

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Book Details

Abstract

An investigation of the fictional representations of the city in contemporary British and American television drama, assessing their political, sociological and cultural implications. The book draws on the following five key case studies for specific and detailed analysis: • Queer as Folk • Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City • The Cops • Homicide - Life on the Street • Holding On Each is discussed in terms of structure, content, characterisation and narrative, and placed within its specific ideological context. The case studies represent an interesting range of British and American cities and city sub-cultures. The author extends his analysis to investigate the intrinsic issues related to the implications of popular and high drama and culture. Featuring excerpts of exclusive interviews with Tony Garnett and members of the production team of The Cops and Tony Marchant and David Snodin of Holding On. As one of the first substantial investigations of the city in television drama, this book reflects a growing general interest in the politics of representation. It is also designed for accommodation into the very popular academic courses on drama and in film and media studies: as a textbook and for supplementary reading.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Front Cover A
Preliminaries i
Contents iii
Acknowledgements iv
Sensing the City – Navigating a Journey An Introduction 1
Viewing positions and audiences 2
The Geo-ideological 4
Dramatic Value and Dramatic Realism 5
The Five Case-study Dramas 9
Notes 15
1. Policing the Imagination Tony Garnett’s ‘The Cops’ 17
‘The Cops’ – Series One 19
PC Danny Rylance 27
WPC Natalie Metcalf 29
DC Alan Wakefield 33
‘The Cops’ – Series Two 36
WPC Amanda Kennett 44
PC Jaz Chundhara, PC Roy Brammell, Karim Ifraz 52
Notes 58
2. The City as a Site of Redemptive Struggle Tony Marchant’s ‘Holding On’ 59
Shaun and Gary 61
Florrie, Janet, Chris and Marcus 74
Lloyd and Hilary 79
Claire, Sally, Brenda and Annie 82
Helen and Zahid 88
3. The Fabled City The San Francisco of Armistead Maupin’s ‘Tales of the City’ 93
Anna Madrigal 94
Mary Ann Singleton 99
Michael and Mona 106
Tales and More Tales 115
Note 118
4. A Manchester Heterotopia? - ‘Queer as Folk’ 119
Queer as Sequinned Space 120
Stuart Alan Jones 123
Vince Tyler 131
Nathan Maloney 140
Happy Families? 147
Notes 156
5. ‘Homicide – Life on the Street’ 157
602. Blood Ties (2) 159
604. Birthday 163
606. Saigon Rose 166
607. The Subway 170
608. All is Bright 172
612. Something Sacred 175
Notes 178
Sensing the City – Centres and Margins A Conclusion 179
Policing the Centre from the Boundary 179
Liberation, Assimilation or Confrontation? Queering City Spaces 182
Sensing the City – more than just Holding On? 186
Notes 187
Back Cover - Book Description 188