Manchester University Press
1 A little Brit different?
Abstract
This chapter examines how BBC America (BBCA) represents contemporary Britain in its programming choices when it began service in the USA. In 1989, the BBC launched the 'Step Forward' programme to allow more Black comedy-writers to gain positions in television. In April 1999, Greg Dyke replaced Sir John Birt as the new Director General of the BBC. His primary tasks included 'the challenges of maintaining the BBC's prominence in the face of a massive expansion of digital channels and international competition'. Six years after the start of BBCA under then CEO Paul Lee, Bill Hilary was hired away from Comedy Central to replace the incumbent. The chapter describes how, despite a waning amount of black and brown faces on BBCA, transnationalism have a huge economic and intercultural effect on global audiences. It explores how BBCA can be touted as an ideological site for ethnic groups to negotiate power and agency.
Abstract
This chapter examines how BBC America (BBCA) represents contemporary Britain in its programming choices when it began service in the USA. In 1989, the BBC launched the 'Step Forward' programme to allow more Black comedy-writers to gain positions in television. In April 1999, Greg Dyke replaced Sir John Birt as the new Director General of the BBC. His primary tasks included 'the challenges of maintaining the BBC's prominence in the face of a massive expansion of digital channels and international competition'. Six years after the start of BBCA under then CEO Paul Lee, Bill Hilary was hired away from Comedy Central to replace the incumbent. The chapter describes how, despite a waning amount of black and brown faces on BBCA, transnationalism have a huge economic and intercultural effect on global audiences. It explores how BBCA can be touted as an ideological site for ethnic groups to negotiate power and agency.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- Notes on contributors xi
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Introduction 1
- 1 A little Brit different? 20
- 2 Scheduling race 50
- 3 Reframing the 1950s 71
- 4 Black British drama, losses and gains 90
- 5 The iconic ghetto on British television 111
- 6 Whiteness, normativity and the ongoing racial Other 132
- 7 Myth of a multicultural England in BBC’s Luther 153
- 8 Framing The Fosters 176
- Select bibliography 196
- Index 207
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- Notes on contributors xi
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Introduction 1
- 1 A little Brit different? 20
- 2 Scheduling race 50
- 3 Reframing the 1950s 71
- 4 Black British drama, losses and gains 90
- 5 The iconic ghetto on British television 111
- 6 Whiteness, normativity and the ongoing racial Other 132
- 7 Myth of a multicultural England in BBC’s Luther 153
- 8 Framing The Fosters 176
- Select bibliography 196
- Index 207
