The History of Forgotten Television Drama in the UK

This 3-year AHRC-funded project will explore why many television dramas made in the regions and nations of the UK between 1946 and 1982 have been ‘forgotten’ while others have been elevated to the canon of ‘classic’ British television dramas (where ‘British’ often means ‘English’). While there may be good reason why some dramas have been forgotten, perhaps because they no longer exist, the project seeks to uncover a ‘lost history’ of UK television drama by bringing to light dramas that still exist but which may not have been seen since their initial transmission. Part of the project is concerned to uncover dramas produced in the regions and nations of the UK which, in some cases, may only have been seen in their region of production, in order to bring them to a wider audience, perhaps for the first time. In doing so, the project aims to broaden our sense of television history and raise questions about what is regarded as ‘classic TV’.