The best murders are British : essays on the international appeal of English crime dramas / edited by Jim Daems.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

ProQuest ebook central.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Television crime shows--Great Britain.

Television crime shows.

Detective and mystery television programs--Great Britain.

Detective and mystery television programs.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, [2020]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

A staple of television since the early years of the BBC, British crime drama first crossed the Atlantic on public broadcasting stations and specialty cable channels, and later through streaming services. Often engaging with domestic anxieties about the government's power (or lack thereof), and with larger issues of social justice like gender equality, racism, and homophobia, it has constantly evolved to reflect social and cultural changes while adapting U.S. and Nordic noir influences in a way that retains its characteristically British elements. This collection examines the continuing appeal of British crime drama from The Sweeney through Sherlock, Marcella, and Happy Valley. Individual essays focus on male melodrama, nostalgia, definitions of community, gender and LGBTQ representation, and neoliberalism. The persistence of the English murder, as each chapter of this collection reveals, points to the complexity of British crime drama's engagement with social, political, and cultural issues. It is precisely the mix of British stereotypes, coupled with a willingness to engage with broader global social and political issues, that makes British crime drama such a successful cultural export.

Contents:

Introduction: The Persistence of the English Murder p. 1 / Jim Daems

"Queen's Pawn": Changing Male Melodrama, Class Discord and Gender Divides in The Sweeney p. 9 / Sue Matheson

"Trust the Gene Genie": Nostalgia and Ideology in Life on Mars p. 23 / George S. Larke-Walsh

The "Bloody ell" of Broadchurch: Heterotopia in British Television Crime Series p. 37 / Debnita Chakravarti

A Tale of Two Sidneys: The Aesthetics of Jazz and the Church of England in Grantchester p. 50 / Phillip E. Mitchell

"Not so much Happy Valley as brutal, violent, drug-ridden, death valley": Exploring the Big Society in Sally Wainwright's Crime Drama p. 61 / Gill Jamieson

Stumbling Around: The Art of Detection in the British Crime Series Endeavour p. 81 / Michelle D. Miranda

Women in British Crime Procedurals p. 97 / Katrina L. Hinson and Ruth M.E. Oldman

Speaking in Code: Feminist Narratives in The Bletchley Circle p. 111 / Meghan Purvis

No Lipstick Required: Vera and the Potential for an Examination of Post-Feminist Representation in British TV Crime Drama p. 126 / James Shelton

From "Freak" to "Good Man": Homosocial Triangulation in BBC's Sherlock p. 140 / Rachel Van Hofwegen Willis

"Crossing the Moor in Those Dark Hours": Modernizing the Gothic in the BBC Sherlock Adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles p. 155 / L.N. Rosales

From Out of the Flames: Queer Revenge Plots in Lewis and Waking the Dead p. 170 / Jim Daems

Neo-Liberal Violence: Marcella and Britain's Monstrous Work Culture p. 182 / Robert A. Saunders.

Notes:

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI Available via World Wide Web.

Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on August 21, 2020).

ISBN:

9781476640693

1476640696

Publisher Number:

40030099226

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.