Robert M. Young Online Writings
'Science on TV: a Critique'83k
In the late 1970s, Carl Gardner (at that time the TV critic of Time Out) and I embarked on an ambitious critical study of the representation of science, technology, medicine and other forms of expertise on British television. We watched everything we thought relevant and met regularly to discuss our respective impressions. Then, partly as a result of this work, I got involved in making a series of documentaries, 'Crucible: Science in Society', which were broadcast in the first year of Channel 4 (see 'What I learned at Summer Camp: Experiences in TV'). This article is the only published result of our collaboration. It attempts to apply a labour process perspective to television and looks closely at a series on Oppenheimer and one on Darwin. It appeared in an Open University reader, T. Bennett et al., eds., Popular Television and Film. BFI Publishing, 1981, pp. 171-93.