Acting in British Television

This fascinating text offers the first in-depth exploration of acting processes in British television. Focused around 16 new interviews with celebrated British actors, including Rebecca Front, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Ken Stott, Penelope Wilton and John Hannah, this rich resource delves behind the scenes of a range of British television programmes in order to find out how actors build their characters for television, how they work on set and location, and how they create their critically acclaimed portrayals. The book looks at actors' work across four diverse but popular genres: soap opera; police and medical drama; comedy; and period drama.
Its insightful discussion of hit programmes and its critical and contextual post-interview analysis, makes the text an essential read for students across television and film studies, theatre, performance and acting, and cultural and media studies, as well as academics and anyone interested in acting and British television.

Tom Cantrell is Senior Lecturer and Head of Theatre at the University of York, UK. He has published widely on screen and stage acting, including Playing for Real: Actors on Playing Real People (Palgrave, 2010, co-edited with Mary Luckhurst) and Acting in Documentary Theatre (Palgrave, 2013).
Christopher Hogg is Senior Lecturer in Television Theory at the University of Westminster, UK. His research interests lie primarily in British television drama but he has also published work in such areas as television adaptation and translation, and screen representations of the past.

1. General Introduction
2. Soap Opera
3. Police and Medical Drama
4. Comedy
5. Period Drama
6. General Conclusion