Alan Clarke

208 Pages·2005·0.745 MB·English

by  Dave Rolinson

THE
TELEVISION
SERIES
Alan Clarke
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THE
TELEVISION
SERIES
series editors
sarah cardwell
jonathan bignell
already published
Terry Nation jonathan bignell and andrew o’day
Andrew Davis sarah cardwell
Jimmy Perry and David Croft simon morgan-russell
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dave rolinson
Alan Clarke
Manchester University Press
manchester and new york
distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave
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Copyright © Dave Rolinson 2005
The right of Dave Rolinson to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
Published by Manchester University Press
Oxford Road, Manchester m13 9nr, UK
and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, ny 10010, USA
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
Distributed exclusively in the USA by
Palgrave, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, ny 10010, USA
Distributed exclusively in Canada by
UBC Press, University of British Columbia, 2029 West Mall,
Vancouver, BC, Canada v6t 1z2
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for
isbn 0 7190 6830 4 hardback
ean 978 0 7190 6830 0
First published 2005
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Typeset in Scala with Meta display
by Koinonia, Manchester
Printed in Great Britain
by Bell & Bain, GlasgowBath
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FOR ME MAM
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Contents
general editors’ preface page viii
acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 The director in television’s ‘studio system’ 10
2 Realism and censorship in the 1970s 57
3 Form and narrative in the 1980s 98
Conclusion 152
appendix: television programmes directed by alan clarke 158
bibliography 177
index 191
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General editors’ preface
Television is part of our everyday experience, and is one of the most
significant aspects of our cultural lives today. Yet its practitioners and its
artistic and cultural achievements remain relatively unacknowledged. The
books in this series aim to remedy this by addressing the work of major
television writers and creators. Each volume provides an authoritative and
accessible guide to a particular practitioner’s body of work, and assesses his
or her contribution to television over the years. Many of the volumes draw
on original sources, such as specially conducted interviews and archive
material, and all of them list relevant bibliographic sources and further
reading and viewing. The author of each book makes a case for the
importance of the work considered therein, and the series includes books
on neglected or overlooked practitioners alongside well-known ones.
In comparison with some related disciplines, Television Studies
scholarship is still relatively young, and the series aims to contribute to
establishing the subject as a vigorous and evolving field. This series
provides resources for critical thinking about television. While maintaining
a clear focus on the writers, on the creators and on the programmes
themselves, the books in this series also take account of key critical concepts
and theories in Television Studies. Each book is written from a particular
critical or theoretical perspective, with reference to pertinent issues, and the
approaches included in the series are varied and sometimes dissenting.
Each author explicitly outlines the reasons for his or her particular focus,
methodology or perspective. Readers are invited to think critically about the
subject matter and approach covered in each book.
Although the series is addressed primarily to students and scholars of
television, the books will also appeal to the many people who are interested
in how television programmes have been commissioned, made and
enjoyed. Since television has been so much a part of personal and public life
in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, we hope that the series will
engage with, and sometimes challenge, a broad and diverse readership.
Sarah Cardwell
Jonathan Bignell
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Acknowledgements
When I first discovered Clarke’s work, I was a teenager growing up on a
Hull council estate. When I finished this book, I was a university lecturer.
So, I would like to thank first of all Neil Sinyard at the University of Hull.
Had he not supported me when poverty threatened my original Ph.D. on
Clarke, this book would never have been written. The support of Helen
Baron was also crucial. Thanks to editors of fanzines who recognised my
ability before I went anywhere near a university. For opening my eyes to the
possibilities of television drama, and for my writing apprenticeship, respect
is due to the erudite Colin Brockhurst, John Connors, Tim Worthington
and many others.
I warmly thank Richard Kelly for his exhaustive interview efforts, which
provided invaluable support for my research, particularly when finances
restricted my own interviews and prevented me from giving in to my inner
stalker. Some gaps remained, and for filling those I thank the following, for
interviews or shared research: Nick Cooper, Simon Coward, Ann Edmonds
at Granada Media, Arthur Ellis, Carla Field of the Questors Theatre in
Ealing for archive material and an interview on 6 February 2003, Katy
Limmer, Shane Murphy, Derek Paget, Chris Perry, Brian Rigby for French
translation, Maire Steadman for archive material and research at the Royal
Shakespeare Company, David M. Thompson for an interview at BBC Films
on 7 November 2002, John E. Twomey – Professor Emeritus at the Ryerson
Institute in Toronto – for archive material, Malcolm Watson, Colin Welland
for a telephone interview with Ian Greaves on 19 January 2003, Frangcon
Whelan, and Peter Whelan for an interview on 6 February 2003.
Furthermore, thanks to the staffs of the Brynmor Jones library at the
University of Hull, Hull Central Library, the Colindale newspaper library,
the BBC’s Written Archives Centre (particularly Erin O’Neill) and the
library and viewing services of the British Film Institute. It is also my
pleasure to acknowledge the vital contribution made by Ian Greaves, for
advice, encouragement and comments on drafts, as well as his practical
help with research, particularly in the ITV sections of the appendix.
A note on the lack of illustrations in this book: this was purely my
decision. As well as being often prohibitively expensive to use, library photo-
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