No, I’m not planning to write about *Goggle Box * -although I’m constantly struck by the contrast between the high-pitched engagement of the sofa-sitters (after all it did win the 2014  BAFTA award for ‘constructed factual’ programmes) and the research conducted by Peter Collet for the IBA back in the 1980s.

University of Westminster at Alexandra Palace, 19-20 February 2015 Few forms of TV drama have historically been more neglected within television studies than the adapted stage play.

Pt. II: The Making and Casting of Gogglebox *This interview was edited for clarity. It was conducted via phone with e-mail followups.

Gay-themed drama on British television has become largely synonymous with the name of Russell T Davies. As the creator of the iconic and controversial Queer as Folk , first broadcast on Channel 4 in 1999, it was perhaps inevitable that Davies’ most recent offering, the eight-part drama series Cucumber , also broadcast on Channel 4, would be subject to no shortage of critical attention.

*This interview was edited for clarity. It was conducted via phone with e-mail followups.

Unlike an increasing number of colleagues, my television viewing is still largely tied to the broadcast schedule. This is entirely due to my being a creature of habit; while I am willing and able to adapt to the new, it’s usually a matter of necessity rather than inclination.

In 2006, Richard Sennett published a short article in The Political Quarterly entitled ‘What do we mean by talent?’ Having carried out ethnographic research with workers in the so-called ‘New Economy’, or rather those in the financial sector, new technology and what he terms ‘media services’ (163), Sennett sought to examine the notion of talent in relation to meritocracy.

I’ve always enjoyed action-adventure, especially swashbuckling action-adventure. Admittedly, though, when the BBC’s new drama The Musketeers (2014-) began last year I didn’t have high expectations. The BBC’s attempts at entertaining action series have been a little hit and miss, as the cancellation of Atlantis earlier this year and the rather short-lived Robin Hood (2006-2009) some years before.

I have watched pretty much every episode of the medical reality show 24 Hours in A&E (Channel 4, 2011–). Even though much of my research happens to focus on medico-scientific discourses in contemporary television, this is a programme I have watched for pure pleasure.

The Royal Television Society Huw Wheldon Memorial Lecture recently broadcast on BBC4 and titled ‘Public Service Broadcasting: A House of Cards?’  reflected on the changing landscape of broadcast television in light of developments in digital and internet technologies of content consumption.

I quite often think of myself as an old-fashioned structuralist (as my 1981 essay on narrative and Coronation Street showed) and am quite embarrassed to think about the number of first year students I attempted to introduce to the wonders of Todorov.