The paradox of distinction: British television series in their golden age

Bignell, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4874-1601 (2026) The paradox of distinction: British television series in their golden age. Caliban, 75. ISSN 2431-1766 doi: 10.4000/16dd8

Abstract/Summary

Many successful British TV series of the 1960s “Golden Age” imitated US aesthetics and production methods, especially filmed television made for the Independent Television network. Distinctively British stylishness and quality made British TV exports attractive to US TV networks, but this attractiveness was, paradoxically, dependent on creating transatlantic hybrid forms rather than uniquely British ones. Production facilities and technologies for making filmed television in Britain were modelled on US studios. Many British series featured US actors, or were written, directed or produced by American émigrés. British distinctiveness was a successful strategy of differentiation, but it concealed transnational influence and exchange.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/127464
Identification Number/DOI	10.4000/16dd8
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Arts and Communication Design > Film, Theatre & Television
Uncontrolled Keywords	Television, series, Britain, USA, 1960s, transatlantic, import, export, drama, fiction
Publisher	Open Edition
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