We are pleased to annouce that Dr. Rachel Moseley's new book 'Handmade Television: Stop-Frame Animation for Children in Britain, 1961-1974' has just been published by Palgrave-Macmillan.

More info HERE

Hand-Made Television explores the ongoing enchantment of many of the much-loved stop-frame children's television programmes of 1960s and 1970s Britain. The first academic work to analyse programmes such as Pogles' Wood (1966), Clangers (1969), Bagpuss (1974) (Smallfilms) and Gordon Murray's Camberwick Green (1966), Trumpton (1967) and Chigley (1969), the book connects these series to their social and historical contexts while providing in-depth analyses of their themes and hand-made aesthetics. Hand-Made Television shows that the appeal of these programmes is rooted not only in their participatory address and evocation of a pastoral English past, but also in the connection of their stop-frame aesthetics to the actions of childhood play. This book makes a significant contribution to both Animation Studies and Television Studies; combining scholarly rigour with an accessible style, it is suitable for scholars as well as fans of these iconic British children's programmes.

On 2 December at 4pm, Dr. Rachel Moseley will discuss research impact in relation to media history research at the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research (BCMCR)

For more information click here.

Abstract:

'The Story of Children's Television, 1946 to Today": Public Engagement and Impact Through Television History'

In this presentation I will elaborate on the development and planning of the recent exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry: 'The Story of Children's Television, 1946 to Today.' The exhibition was planned from the start to produce engagement and impact, and the talk will explore the ways in which this was acheived, in the lead-up to the exhibition, during its stay in Coventry and as it tours the country until 2018. The talk will explore the distinctions between engagement and impact, the value of media history within the humanities for enabling researchers and universities to achieve this, as well as the difficulties of building it into research.

This will be followed by a discussion about creative approaches to research impact, particularly for media history research.

On Saturday 7 November Dr. Rachel Moseley and Dr. Helen Wheatley gave a 'Teatime Talk' on 'The Story of Children's Television' exhibition at the Herbert Gallery. Helen gave an overview of the early history of children's television in Britain and the Centre's collaboration with the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, whilst Rachel previewed work from her new book Handmade Television: Stop-Frame Animation for Children in Britain, 1961-1974. They greatly enjoyed discussing people's memories of children's television with the audience and the lively discussion that followed about the importance of protecting children's culture at a time of BBC Charter renewal. The event took place at the Friends Meeting House in Warwick, as part of Warwick Words: Festival of Literature and the Spoken Word, and was very well attended and received.