Sherryl Wilson | University of the West of England (original) (raw)
Papers by Sherryl Wilson
Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s, 2013
Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s, 2013
The relationship between the medical establishment and programme makers had never been entirely r... more The relationship between the medical establishment and programme makers had never been entirely respectful. Undermining arrogant surgeons, giving them a taste of their own medicine, mocking their authority, had entertained the nation through the Carry On and Doctor films. The tradition continued with Richard Wilson’s tactless and hung-over surgeon in Only When I Laugh. Such moments could be seen as a safety-valve, a carnivalesque expression of fears, which served to confirm rather than attack established relationships. However, by the beginning of the 1980s the medical professions were being subjected to more serious challenges.
This two year research project (January 2008-January 2010) funded by the Arts and Humanities Rese... more This two year research project (January 2008-January 2010) funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council was based within the Centre for Broadcasting History Research at Bournemouth University. It investigated the ways in which UK television and radio reflected and ...
Communication in the Age of Suspicion, 2007
It was a "mascara runnin? kinda day": Oprah Winfrey, confession, celebrity and the formation of t... more It was a "mascara runnin? kinda day": Oprah Winfrey, confession, celebrity and the formation of trust. 2007 Palgrave Macmillan reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan. This extract is taken from the author's original manuscript and has not been edited. The definitive version of this piece may be found in Communication in the Age of Suspicion: Trust and the Media edited by Vian Bakir and David Barlow, which can be purchased from www.palgrave.com. This chapter updates and extends the analysis of Oprah in Wilson's book, situating it within the wider context of reality television and the climate of suspicion leading up to the 2004 American Presidential election. It resulted from a paper given at the 'Communication in the Age of Suspicion' conference held by Bournemouth University in February 2004. In his review of this book Joseph Burridge selects Wilson's chapter as one of three which 'stood out': 'Sherryl Wilson's account of Oprah Winfrey's claims to ordinariness and her reduction of the 'otherness of others' allows some insight into what we might choose to call the rhetoric of trust, which definitely merits further exploration in similar contexts' (http://www.fifth?estate?online.co.uk/reviews/communicationintheageofsuspicion.html). Disclaimer UWE has obtained warranties from all depositors as to their title in the material deposited and as to their right to deposit such material. UWE makes no representation or warranties of commercial utility, title, or fitness for a particular purpose or any other warranty, express or implied in respect of any material deposited.
Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s, 2013
‘In 1948 a dream was born: a National Health Service. In 1985 the dream is in tatters.’ This was ... more ‘In 1948 a dream was born: a National Health Service. In 1985 the dream is in tatters.’ This was how Paul Unwin and Jeremy Brock began their proposal to the BBC for a hospital series based in an accident and emergency department. They pitched a document which ‘read like a manifesto’ (Kingsley 1993:4).
The very idea of 'public service' came under fierce attack in the Thatcherite 1980s. Broa... more The very idea of 'public service' came under fierce attack in the Thatcherite 1980s. Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s takes the two key services, broadcasting and the NHS, and traces the heated debates and political pressures which radically transformed them both. It points to the parallels between them, and describes issues of health, sickness and the provision of medical care as they were reflected in the radio and television output. Across a wide range of programming, from popular drama to investigative journalism, the book captures the mood of the decade as it traces the politics of the NHS, from the Winter of Discontent to the Aids crisis; and the politics of broadcasting, from the coming of Channel Four to the increasing government attacks on the BBC. Concluding in 1990 with two pivotal Acts of Parliament, Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s traces the roots of the present crisis in the public services.
The Scholar and Feminist Online, 2004
The paper explores the ways in the which the figure of the older woman is constructed and deploye... more The paper explores the ways in the which the figure of the older woman is constructed and deployed in the TV drama Six Feet Under.
This article explores the TV drama In Two Minds (BBC1, 1967) which was broadcast as a part of the... more This article explores the TV drama In Two Minds (BBC1, 1967) which was broadcast as a part of the Wednesday Play series. I argue that the play is the product of a constellation of social, cultural and institutional forces that dramatizes the avant-garde theories of the controversial psychiatrist R. D. Laing; as such, it represents an example of the ways in which television drama, at times, operates as a transgressive culture. In Two Minds operates at two levels; it at once an exposition of Laingian theory as well as a dramatization of the politics of experience. Representations of mental illness are used to critique traditional psychiatric practices along with traditional family and social structures more widely. The play is a collaboration by Tony Garnett and Ken Loach, whose interest in innovative and social issue-based TV drama formed a part of wider debates within the industry about the development of a television aesthetic. Thus, the play marks the moment in which the politics ...
Cultural Constructions of Health and Life Course Identity
Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s, 2013
‘In 1948 a dream was born: a National Health Service. In 1985 the dream is in tatters.’ This was ... more ‘In 1948 a dream was born: a National Health Service. In 1985 the dream is in tatters.’ This was how Paul Unwin and Jeremy Brock began their proposal to the BBC for a hospital series based in an accident and emergency department. They pitched a document which ‘read like a manifesto’ (Kingsley 1993:4).
Journal of British Cinema and Television
Referencing Diana Athill's memoir, Alive, Alive Oh! And Other Things That Matter (2015), this... more Referencing Diana Athill's memoir, Alive, Alive Oh! And Other Things That Matter (2015), this article organises an analysis of the BBC television dramas A Cream Cracker under the Settee (1988) and She's Been Away (1989) through the frame of Robert Butler's concept of the life review (1975) which, he argues, is a process through which unresolved conflicts and past experiences return to reflective consciousness, thus enabling resolution and recalibration of relationships and past events in the elderly. Viewed in the light of Butler's ideas, Athill and the 75-year-old female protagonist of each narrative suggest rarely depicted levels of agency and ongoing identity formation in the elderly. Although very different in tone, aesthetic appeal, narrative structure and class location, each drama similarly explores the inner lives of elderly women and reveals personal truths hitherto unacknowledged by them which also offer a reflection on wider society. In each case, the elde...
Television & New Media
In the Living Room: Second Screens and TV Audiences. '"The second screen" or "the companion devic... more In the Living Room: Second Screens and TV Audiences. '"The second screen" or "the companion device," … is a huge development for the mobile app industry and a target-rich environment for our advertisers. (Mark Challinor, 2013) "The recent phenomenon of the second screen has not had a large influence of (sic) TV" (DigitalTVEurope, 2014) The epigraph neatly exemplifies William Boddy's observation that media firms have responded to the newly 'dispersed audiences in complex and sometimes contradictory ways' (Boddy 2011, 76). The growth of second screen use while viewing television has captured the imagination of broadcasters, techno start-up companies and advertisers eager to cash in on the social TV phenomenon. Meanwhile, technological changes unsettle our understanding of audience as they disperse across platforms, and time-shifting technologies and video streaming interrupt the scheduling rhythm. The resultant challenge to the one-to-may model of broadcasting undermines the idea of TV as a shared cultural form while second screen innovations extol digital technology's promise to revolutionise TV viewing by connecting viewers across space via applications (apps) and social media sites. 1 Ofcom, the independent regulator for the UK communications industries, in their Communications Market Report (2013) "The Reinvention of the 1950s Living Room" states that developments in media technologies are transforming the "traditional living room" into a digital media hub in which families still gather in front of the TV set. However, uptake of smart phones and tablets is "creating a nation of media multi-taskers" fragmenting attention
Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s, 2013
Oprah, Celebrity and Formations of Self, 2003
Oprah, Celebrity and Formations of Self, 2003
Oprah, Celebrity and Formations of Self, 2003
Oprah, Celebrity and Formations of Self, 2003
Oprah, Celebrity and Formations of Self, 2003
Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s, 2013
Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s, 2013
The relationship between the medical establishment and programme makers had never been entirely r... more The relationship between the medical establishment and programme makers had never been entirely respectful. Undermining arrogant surgeons, giving them a taste of their own medicine, mocking their authority, had entertained the nation through the Carry On and Doctor films. The tradition continued with Richard Wilson’s tactless and hung-over surgeon in Only When I Laugh. Such moments could be seen as a safety-valve, a carnivalesque expression of fears, which served to confirm rather than attack established relationships. However, by the beginning of the 1980s the medical professions were being subjected to more serious challenges.
This two year research project (January 2008-January 2010) funded by the Arts and Humanities Rese... more This two year research project (January 2008-January 2010) funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council was based within the Centre for Broadcasting History Research at Bournemouth University. It investigated the ways in which UK television and radio reflected and ...
Communication in the Age of Suspicion, 2007
It was a "mascara runnin? kinda day": Oprah Winfrey, confession, celebrity and the formation of t... more It was a "mascara runnin? kinda day": Oprah Winfrey, confession, celebrity and the formation of trust. 2007 Palgrave Macmillan reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan. This extract is taken from the author's original manuscript and has not been edited. The definitive version of this piece may be found in Communication in the Age of Suspicion: Trust and the Media edited by Vian Bakir and David Barlow, which can be purchased from www.palgrave.com. This chapter updates and extends the analysis of Oprah in Wilson's book, situating it within the wider context of reality television and the climate of suspicion leading up to the 2004 American Presidential election. It resulted from a paper given at the 'Communication in the Age of Suspicion' conference held by Bournemouth University in February 2004. In his review of this book Joseph Burridge selects Wilson's chapter as one of three which 'stood out': 'Sherryl Wilson's account of Oprah Winfrey's claims to ordinariness and her reduction of the 'otherness of others' allows some insight into what we might choose to call the rhetoric of trust, which definitely merits further exploration in similar contexts' (http://www.fifth?estate?online.co.uk/reviews/communicationintheageofsuspicion.html). Disclaimer UWE has obtained warranties from all depositors as to their title in the material deposited and as to their right to deposit such material. UWE makes no representation or warranties of commercial utility, title, or fitness for a particular purpose or any other warranty, express or implied in respect of any material deposited.
Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s, 2013
‘In 1948 a dream was born: a National Health Service. In 1985 the dream is in tatters.’ This was ... more ‘In 1948 a dream was born: a National Health Service. In 1985 the dream is in tatters.’ This was how Paul Unwin and Jeremy Brock began their proposal to the BBC for a hospital series based in an accident and emergency department. They pitched a document which ‘read like a manifesto’ (Kingsley 1993:4).
The very idea of 'public service' came under fierce attack in the Thatcherite 1980s. Broa... more The very idea of 'public service' came under fierce attack in the Thatcherite 1980s. Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s takes the two key services, broadcasting and the NHS, and traces the heated debates and political pressures which radically transformed them both. It points to the parallels between them, and describes issues of health, sickness and the provision of medical care as they were reflected in the radio and television output. Across a wide range of programming, from popular drama to investigative journalism, the book captures the mood of the decade as it traces the politics of the NHS, from the Winter of Discontent to the Aids crisis; and the politics of broadcasting, from the coming of Channel Four to the increasing government attacks on the BBC. Concluding in 1990 with two pivotal Acts of Parliament, Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s traces the roots of the present crisis in the public services.
The Scholar and Feminist Online, 2004
The paper explores the ways in the which the figure of the older woman is constructed and deploye... more The paper explores the ways in the which the figure of the older woman is constructed and deployed in the TV drama Six Feet Under.
This article explores the TV drama In Two Minds (BBC1, 1967) which was broadcast as a part of the... more This article explores the TV drama In Two Minds (BBC1, 1967) which was broadcast as a part of the Wednesday Play series. I argue that the play is the product of a constellation of social, cultural and institutional forces that dramatizes the avant-garde theories of the controversial psychiatrist R. D. Laing; as such, it represents an example of the ways in which television drama, at times, operates as a transgressive culture. In Two Minds operates at two levels; it at once an exposition of Laingian theory as well as a dramatization of the politics of experience. Representations of mental illness are used to critique traditional psychiatric practices along with traditional family and social structures more widely. The play is a collaboration by Tony Garnett and Ken Loach, whose interest in innovative and social issue-based TV drama formed a part of wider debates within the industry about the development of a television aesthetic. Thus, the play marks the moment in which the politics ...
Cultural Constructions of Health and Life Course Identity
Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s, 2013
‘In 1948 a dream was born: a National Health Service. In 1985 the dream is in tatters.’ This was ... more ‘In 1948 a dream was born: a National Health Service. In 1985 the dream is in tatters.’ This was how Paul Unwin and Jeremy Brock began their proposal to the BBC for a hospital series based in an accident and emergency department. They pitched a document which ‘read like a manifesto’ (Kingsley 1993:4).
Journal of British Cinema and Television
Referencing Diana Athill's memoir, Alive, Alive Oh! And Other Things That Matter (2015), this... more Referencing Diana Athill's memoir, Alive, Alive Oh! And Other Things That Matter (2015), this article organises an analysis of the BBC television dramas A Cream Cracker under the Settee (1988) and She's Been Away (1989) through the frame of Robert Butler's concept of the life review (1975) which, he argues, is a process through which unresolved conflicts and past experiences return to reflective consciousness, thus enabling resolution and recalibration of relationships and past events in the elderly. Viewed in the light of Butler's ideas, Athill and the 75-year-old female protagonist of each narrative suggest rarely depicted levels of agency and ongoing identity formation in the elderly. Although very different in tone, aesthetic appeal, narrative structure and class location, each drama similarly explores the inner lives of elderly women and reveals personal truths hitherto unacknowledged by them which also offer a reflection on wider society. In each case, the elde...
Television & New Media
In the Living Room: Second Screens and TV Audiences. '"The second screen" or "the companion devic... more In the Living Room: Second Screens and TV Audiences. '"The second screen" or "the companion device," … is a huge development for the mobile app industry and a target-rich environment for our advertisers. (Mark Challinor, 2013) "The recent phenomenon of the second screen has not had a large influence of (sic) TV" (DigitalTVEurope, 2014) The epigraph neatly exemplifies William Boddy's observation that media firms have responded to the newly 'dispersed audiences in complex and sometimes contradictory ways' (Boddy 2011, 76). The growth of second screen use while viewing television has captured the imagination of broadcasters, techno start-up companies and advertisers eager to cash in on the social TV phenomenon. Meanwhile, technological changes unsettle our understanding of audience as they disperse across platforms, and time-shifting technologies and video streaming interrupt the scheduling rhythm. The resultant challenge to the one-to-may model of broadcasting undermines the idea of TV as a shared cultural form while second screen innovations extol digital technology's promise to revolutionise TV viewing by connecting viewers across space via applications (apps) and social media sites. 1 Ofcom, the independent regulator for the UK communications industries, in their Communications Market Report (2013) "The Reinvention of the 1950s Living Room" states that developments in media technologies are transforming the "traditional living room" into a digital media hub in which families still gather in front of the TV set. However, uptake of smart phones and tablets is "creating a nation of media multi-taskers" fragmenting attention
Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s, 2013
Oprah, Celebrity and Formations of Self, 2003
Oprah, Celebrity and Formations of Self, 2003
Oprah, Celebrity and Formations of Self, 2003
Oprah, Celebrity and Formations of Self, 2003
Oprah, Celebrity and Formations of Self, 2003