The Black Lives Matter Protest invigorated many of us to think about our respective curricula. I was probably not the only one aware of the limitations of what I offered to students in terms of including non-dominant voices. Most of my teaching has focused on British, American and sometimes European television and film.

Alongside the important position of Nordic Noir in European crime fiction, it comes as no surprise that Netflix has utilized this subgenre[1] both on the Nordic markets and as part of the streaming service’s transnational ambitions.

In the last decades, the European audiovisual and creative sectors have not stopped developing in size, significance and reach. They have assumed an increased role in policy, business and cultural life, but most of all they have greatly contributed to the consolidation of European identity and a stronger sense of community. Throughout the decades, different factors have contributed to the high levels of innovation in these sectors.

Towards the end of April — into what we can now call Lockdown 1.0 as Ireland has recently entered Lockdown 2.0 (The Remix) — the smash hit Normal People was unleashed onto Irish screens. The BBC/Hulu production, based on the best-selling novel by Sally Rooney, was released all at once in the UK and the US a few days earlier making it prime binge watch material.

Last week, a number of UK TV executives discussed strategies for programming television, particularly at this time, during the pandemic, during the BBC’s Digital Cities Virtual Events. And pretty much all came to the same conclusions: that what audiences want, right now, is warm-hearted, comfort-television.

It’s become a bit of a truism that, ‘these are strange and dangerous times’. But I am not referring to Covid. I am writing this on the 29 ^th September, and we have found out that the US president is in that much debt that he cannot borrow anymore locally and is thus indebted to foreign powers. And yet, he is still president.

Let me greet you in the good old Scouse fashion. Alright? Because, you know, things have been tough, haven’t they? Recent events have again highlighted that racism runs rife in our societies; that some women and men remain – shockingly remain – at risk of being murdered or mistreated in other ways.

Like many other lecturers and tutors of media and creative industries courses, I have spent much of the past semester redesigning for online delivery classes intended for face-to-face teaching. In some cases, learning, teaching and assessment were radically altered in order to facilitate students’ submission of work for the semester’s end. Students’ documentary shorts became paper-based portfolios.

Broadcasting, Reloaded.

Until no later than September 2020, all EU countries will have to apply at the level of local legislation, the principles and norms of the new version of the European Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). Originally rolled out in 1989, and then named as “the television without frontiers directive”, the AVMSD is the key legal document defining the various pillars upon which the cross-border provision of audiovisual media services is built