The first academic study to focus on experimental British television. Uncovers the history of experimental television, bringing back forgotten programmes and places the aesthetics of experimentation within historical contexts. The book also examines the importance of the changing technologies on British television.

Introduction: Experimental British television – Laura Mulvey1. ‘Creative in its own right’: The Langham Group and the search for a new television drama – John Hill2. ‘And now for your Sunday night experimental drama…’ Experimentation and armchair theatre – Helen Wheatley3. A ‘New Drama for Television’?: Diary of a young man – John Hill4. ‘The very new can only come from the very old’: Ken Russell, national culture and the possibility of experimental television at the BBC in the 1960s – Kay Dickinson5. From art to avant-garde? television, formalism and the arts documentary in 1960s Britain – Jamie Sexton6. An experiment in television drama: John McGrath’s The Adventures of Frank – Lez Cooke7. Don’t fence me in: The Singing Detective and the synchronicity of indeterminacy – Catrin Prys8. Visions: a Channel 4 experiment 1982–5 – John Ellis 9. Experimenting on air: UK artists' film on television – A.L. Rees 10. Experimental music television – K.J. Donnelly11. ‘Yes, it’s War!’: Chris Morris and the boundaries of comic acceptability – Brett MillsIndex

Throughout its history, British television has found a place, if only in its margins, for programmes that consciously worked to expand the boundaries of television aesthetics. Even in the present climate of increased academic interest in television history, its experimental tradition has generally either been approached generically or been lost within the assumption that television is simply a mass medium. Experimental British television uncovers the history of experimental television, bringing back forgotten programmes in addition to looking at relatively more privileged artists or programme strands from fresh perspectives. The book therefore goes against the grain of dominant television studies, which tends to place the medium within the flow of the ‘everyday’, in order to scrutinise those productions that attempted to make more serious interventions within the medium.