[ecrea] Call for papers: British Medical Television, Brighton July 2017

*Call for Papers*

*Conference*

*/British Medical Television /*

*//*

*Film and Screen Studies, School of Media, University of Brighton*

*27-28 July, 2017 *

*//*

*Proposals are invited for an interdisciplinary 2 day conference at the 
University of Brighton*

In response to the news of the British government’s imposed changes to 
junior doctor contracts in 2015, actors from the BBC’s hospital drama 
/Holby City/ and Channel 4’s hospital comedy /The Green Wing /joined 
marches and picket line protests alongside NHS workers. Although the BBC 
took the decision not to focus reporting on the strikes, an episode of 
the medical drama /Holby City/ entitled ‘Handle with Care’ (2016) drew 
attention to the plight of “marvellous junior doctors” and the serious 
problems created by NHS reforms. Further episodes have raised issues 
about the ‘winter crisis’; privatisation of services; media 
misrepresentation; ‘immigration and health care reforms’ and so on. The 
explicit foregrounding of social and political issues within 
television’s hospital drama genre is not new, but medical programmes 
like /Casualty,/ /Holby City, Call The Midwife, /and/One Born Every 
Minute /appear to have become a primary cultural spaces where political 
tensions are being played out.

Within this political and ideological landscape of Tory cuts, austerity, 
threats of privatisation, editorial control and neo-liberalism, this 
conference suggests that to consider the history, politics, production 
and public role of British medical television is timely and urgent work. 
The genre has a long and rich history, both fictional and factual, and 
yet, despite its longevity, its broad appeal, and its resonance within 
the political, and cultural national landscape, British medical 
television has not been the subject of much academic interest. Whilst 
academics have recognised the significance of US dramas such as /ER/ and 
/Grey’s Anatomy, /programmes like /Casualty/ – which is the longest 
running medical drama in the world – have been largely neglected.

This conference offers a unique opportunity for scholars across academic 
disciplines to engage with a strand of British television that has too 
long been ignored within the academy. We seek to consider questions such as:

·What ideological and political purposes are served by TV programmes 
dealing with medical issues, and how do they shape public understandings 
of healthcare?

·Do programmes like /Holby City/ and /Casualty/ serve as a vehicle for 
the BBC to tell its own story about the impact of government 
intervention and the ideological dismantling of the BBC?

·What impact will the tendering out of /Holby City/ to independent 
production have on the potential ideological relationship between the 
BBC and national politics?

·How are the political schemas of programmes like /Holby City/ and 
/Casualty/ reflected in other forms of medical television broadcast on 
UK commercial television?

·How do genres such as reality TV and documentary engage with medical 
issues?

The conference aims to map out the rich history of medical programming 
on British television and to engage with the complex relationships 
between the NHS, British broadcasting, and the state.

Indicative texts from a range of genres include, but are not restricted to:

/Casualty/

/General Hospital/

/Doc Martin/

/Holby City/

/Call The Midwife/

/999/

/What’s Your Emergency/

/Junior Doctors/

/24 Hours in A& E/

/Embarrassing Bodies/

/Operation Ouch/

/Doctor in The House/

/Only When I Laugh/

Possible approaches include:

History of medical programming

Children’s medical television

Education

Dietetics

Exposure of the body

Trauma

Politics

Identity

Audiences

Broadcast policies

Public service broadcasting and the commercial sector

Spectacle and visual effects

Space and place

Production cultures

Expert knowledge

Drama and quality TV

Narrative and storytelling

Stardom and performance

Christmas specials

Neglected television

Medical authority and authenticity

Realism

The conference will be held at the University of Brighton on 27 and 28 
July 2017. Please send abstracts of 300 words plus 100-word bio by 
Monday 24 April 2017 (please copy to all three organisers):

Dr Louise FitzGerald (L.Fitzgerald /at/ brighton.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(L.Fitzgerald /at/ brighton.ac.uk)>

Dr Douglas McNaughton (D.McNaughton /at/ brighton.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(D.McNaughton /at/ brighton.ac.uk)>

Dr Joanna Macdonnell (J.Macdonnell /at/ brighton.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(J.Macdonnell /at/ brighton.ac.uk)>

Website: 
http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/study/pmis/events/british-medical-television-conference/ 
<https://staffmail.brighton.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?REF=0l3O2rFoVle_31g336MsqiyH38wzpl4RKg1frk9GB708ytteE0zUCAFodHRwOi8vYXJ0cy5icmlnaHRvbi5hYy51ay9zdHVkeS9wbWlzL2V2ZW50cy9icml0aXNoLW1lZGljYWwtdGVsZXZpc2lvbi1jb25mZXJlbmNlLw..>


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