[Commlist] New book: Laughter in the Classroom: London Weekend Television's Please Sir! (1968–1972) (UCL Press)

UCL Press is delighted to announce the publication of a new open access 
book that may be of interest to list subscribers: /Laughter in the 
Classroom: London Weekend Television's Please Sir! (1968–1972) /by 
Gillian A.M. Mitchell.

Free download: https://uclpress.co.uk/book/laughter-in-the-classroom/ 
<https://uclpress.co.uk/book/laughter-in-the-classroom/>
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Laughter in the Classroom: London Weekend Television's Please Sir! 
(1968–1972)
Gillian A.M. Mitchell

Free download: https://uclpress.co.uk/book/laughter-in-the-classroom/
________________________________________

Set in a London secondary modern school and televised between 1968 and 
1972, the situation comedy Please Sir! was produced for the Independent 
Television (ITV) network by the newly formed company London Weekend 
Television (LWT). Popular with audiences and recognised by many critics 
as an innovative contribution to the sitcom genre as it evolved during 
the late 1960s, Please Sir! has nevertheless received remarkably little 
sustained attention from scholars. That silence is filled by this volume.

Please Sir! featured the lives of young working-class people in a 
distinctive manner that blended realism and romanticism. In an engaging 
narrative, Gillian Mitchell explores the programme’s background, its 
comedic style, cast of characters and depictions of contemporary issues, 
from educational matters to questions of gender, generation, race and 
ethnicity. She explores the positive contribution of LWT’s early 
ambitions to the success of Please Sir!, then turns to the impact on the 
programme’s immediate and long-term reputation of crises that afflicted 
LWT as it failed in its audacious bid to alter the ‘popular’ image of 
ITV with its highbrow programming. Ultimately, the book argues that 
Please Sir! reveals much about the social, cultural and televisual era 
in which it was produced.

Free download: https://uclpress.co.uk/book/laughter-in-the-classroom/ 
<https://uclpress.co.uk/book/laughter-in-the-classroom/>

uclpress.co.uk | @uclpress
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