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In:A Comparative History of the Literary Draft in Europe
Edited by Olga Beloborodova and Dirk Van Hulle
[Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages XXXV] 2024
► pp. 473–486

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2.3.2
Television

From pre-production to programme-making and dissemination

 | University of Reading
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 8 November 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/chlel.xxxv.33big
Abstract
A focus on the details of how TV drama scripts were commissioned, edited and realised offers insight into the relationships between writers and television institutions. This study of the early years of the BBC’s popular science fiction series Doctor Who is based on archival documents from the 1960s and shows how the role of the screenwriter was negotiated in relation to the opportunities and constraints of format, genre, cost and intended audience, at a time of rapid and dynamic change in British television culture. The decisions about screenwriting analysed in this chapter affected how Doctor Who developed in the 60 years that followed, and also impacted how the BBC thought about its cultural and social mission of Public Service Broadcasting.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • The genesis of a television drama
  • Genre, format, audience and budget
  • The script that saved the series
  • Beyond the script
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (23)
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