British science fiction television : a hitchhiker's guide / edited by John R. Cook and Peter Wright.

Format:

• Book

Contributor:

• Cook, John R., 1966-
• Wright, Peter.

Series:

• Popular television genres

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

• Science fiction television programs--Great Britain--History and criticism.
• Science fiction television programs.
• Great Britain.

Physical Description:

viii, 296 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : I.B. Tauris ; New York : Distributed in the United States by Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

Summary:

• This pioneering book argues that British science fiction television - all too often derided for the quality of its special effects - deserves to be taken seriously. From Doctor Who to Red Dwarf, Thunderbirds to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; The Prisoner, Blake's 7 and Quatermass, the science fiction genre has produced some of the most memorable and cherished of all British television shows. Exported internationally, they have fascinated and delighted audiences with their peculiarly British visions of the future. Many of them - if not most - have taken on iconic status.
• Written by leading academics in TV history and science fiction studies, British Science Fiction Television also features an exclusive interview with Thunderbirds creator and producer Gerry Anderson, and a contribution from an acclaimed biographer of the late Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The first detailed national survey of this most well-loved of TV g genres, the book looks in-depth at all of the most famous shows, as well as revisiting such gems as Joe 90, UFO, The Tomarrow People, Survivors, Threads, Sapphire and Steel, Invasion: Earth and The Last Train. For those interested in science fiction and in the way television illuminates wider aspects of social and cultural history, for students and for fans, this is essential reading.

Contents:

• 1 'Futures past': an introduction to and brief survey of British science fiction television / John R. Cook, Peter Wright 1
• 2 Quatermass and the origins of British television sf / James Chapman 21
• 3 Tardis at the OK Corral: Doctor Who and the USA / Nicholas J. Cull 52
• 4 Countering the counterculture: The Prisoner and the 1960s / Sue Short 71
• 5 The age of Aquarius: utopia and anti-utopia in late 1960s' and early 1970s' British science fiction television / John R. Cook 93
• 6 The man who made Thunderbirds: an interview with Gerry Anderson / Nicholas J. Cull 116
• 7 Everyday life in the post-catastrophe future: Terry Nation's Survivors / Andy Sawyer 131
• 8 TV docudrama and the nuclear subject: The War Game, The Day After and Threads / David Seed 154
• 9 Resist the host: Blake's 7 - a very British future / Una McCormack 174
• 10 Echoes of discontent: Conservative politics and Sapphire and Steel / Peter Wright 192
• 11 Counterpointing the surrealism of the underlying metaphor in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy / M.J. Simpson 219
• 12 'OK, homeboys, let's posse!' Masculine anxiety, gender, race and class in Red Dwarf / Elyce Rae Helford 240
• 13 British apocalypses now - or then? The Uninvited, Invasion: Earth and The Last Train / Catriona Miller 263.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [283]-286) and index.

ISBN:

• 1845110471
• 184511048X

OCLC:

60794938

Publisher Number:

• 9781845110475 (hbk.)
• 9781845110482 (pbk.)