Full Description
This book explores the role of heritage in contemporary British visual culture through analysis of a selection of British factual television series.
Despite being the most popular genre on British and American television since the late-2000s, factual entertainment is often dismissed for its triviality. As such, it has been left out of discussions concerned with visual depictions of British heritage onscreen, which are typically reserved for costume dramas. This book explores television's relationship with contemporary nostalgic culture, examining Britain's relationship with its past, its heritage, and its identity. Focusing on a cross-section of factual television programmes, from talent shows and cooking competitions, to children's television and national live sporting events, the author argues that they not only explicitly reflect the socio-political context and nostalgic culture in Britain post-2008, but have been instrumental in shaping it.
Proposing a new subgenre of factual entertainment -factual heritage Televis0ion - this book will be a must-read for scholars and students in television studies, popular culture, history and heritage studies, cultural studies and media studies.
Contents
1. Britain's Got Nostalgia!; 2. Arcadia: The Great British Bake Off and The Heritage Image; 3. Navigating Traumatic Heritage in The Repair Shop and Sain Ffagan; 4. Grand Tours, Raj Revivals, and the Television Travelogue; 5. Sport and the National Hero Image; 6. CBeebies: Connecting through Play; 7. Parody And Performance; 8. A Royal Night In: Repackaging The Royals; 9. Heritage And The Phenomenal Now; Conclusion; Index
