Abstract

This keynote explores the development of television in the United Kingdom in the pre and post-war era, charting technological, institutional, cultural and genre developments from the early TV years of the BBC to the emergence of commercial competitors in the 1950s and beyond. The lecture discusses the impact and influence of American content on British TV output as well as the threats to the current TV landscape, including the emergence and rapid growth of streaming services as well as ever-changing content-viewing habits.