Helen Wheatley (she/her)
@helenwheatley.bsky.social
Academic Director of Warwick Institute of Engagement, Professor of Film and Television, Co-Founder of the Centre for Television Histories and mum of three teenagers and three cats
Introducing the wonderful host for my book launch: Prof @helenwheatley.bsky.social, gothic television scholar and one of my role models, check out some of Helen's brilliant work if you haven't already! There are hardly any tickets left for this event - last couple at tinyurl.com/wyrdTVlaunch
A wonderful blog post by my friend @illuminations.bsky.social (John Wyver) about our trip to Coventry Cathedral to visit the ‘75: Towards a New Cathedral’ exhibition www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/75-towards-a...
75: Towards a New (Coventry) Cathedral - Illuminations
John Wyver writes: To Coventry, to the city’s great and glorious cathedral, and most particularly to the exhibition 75: Towards a New Cathedral (until 21 September), mounted there in the Chapel of Chr...
illuminationsmedia.co.uk
WYRD TV book launch - get your tickets sooner rather than later - limited seats! Sun 6th Dec 2-5pm, Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield @sensoriafestival.bsky.social #sidney&Matilda @helenwheatley.bsky.social tickts.co.uk/events/book-...
Very much looking forward to this!
Dr Diane A Rodgers@dianearodgers.bsky.social · last mo.BOOK LAUNCH - WYRD TV: FOLKLORE, FOLK HORROR & BRITISH TELEVISION Sun 6th Dec 2-5pm, Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield. Author/folk-horror scholar Dr Diane A. Rodgers in conversation with gothic television scholar Prof @helenwheatley.bsky.social. Limited tickets available NOW! tickts.co.uk/events/book-...
Excited to see @dianearodgers.bsky.social book nearly out in the wild!
Dr Diane A Rodgers@dianearodgers.bsky.social · 5mo agoWYRD TV update! Indexing: one of the least glamorous aspects of book writing - with thanks to Casper the cat and @helenwheatley.bsky.social who both feature in some way here :) Thanks also to BFI for publishing support thus far!
It was such an honour to record this conversation with one of my favourite scholars, and to be part of this brilliant podcast series. Looking forward to Season Two already
National Folklore Survey for England@nfsengland.bsky.social · 7mo agoSo here it is: the final episode of the first series of Folklore Matters! This time, @dianearodgers.bsky.social interviewed @helenwheatley.bsky.social about folk horror, the gothic and screen screen screen. It’s a great episode to end on - but don’t worry, we’ll be back for series two!
Recorded a podcast episode with the marvellous @helenwheatley.bsky.social today for @nfsengland.bsky.social - watch the FOLKLORE MATTERS feed wherever you get your podcasts every Thursday! #folklorematters
Thanks for sharing, @illuminations.bsky.social 😊
Illuminations@illuminations.bsky.social · 12mo agoA glorious CST post from @helenwheatley.bsky.social about unwritten projects for research at the BBC WAC, and the devastating impact the recent restrictions will inflict. Do read - and add your own future projects needing independent access for exploratory research. cstonline.net/defending-th...
Friends in/near London. I've been invited to talk about my latest book at Goldsmiths in a couple of weeks time. It would be lovely to see some friendly faces if you're around. All welcome. www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id...
Professor Helen Wheatley talk on 'Posthumous Television'
Professor Helen Wheatley will give a talk on 'Posthumous Television' based on her forthcoming monograph Television/Death that explores the intersections between these terms
gold.ac.uk
@illuminations.bsky.social revealing the identity of The Scanner (at last!) As ever, impeccable historical research from my friend and colleague John Wyver
Illuminations@illuminations.bsky.social · 2y agoOTD in early British television: Just after 10pm on Sat 18 Feb 1939 the AP schedule carried an unbilled 3-minute item titled Special Transmission. This was a short interview with the Mr Edgar Charloe of Acton about his suggestion for a ‘Viewer’s Club’. www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/otd-in-early...
Time to get your Screen proposals submitted. Hope to see you there!
Gary Needham (they/them)@garyneedham.bsky.social · 2y agoDidn't get into #SCMS come to Screen if you can. I might show you Glasgow as a Glaswegian. CFP open until the 15th, the theme is "returns" but open to all relevant topics, and abstracts are only 200 words: bonus @helenwheatley.bsky.social is the keynote. screenstudiesconference.com/2024/08/30/c...
The fascinating story of Britain’s first all Black cabaret programme for TV
Illuminations@illuminations.bsky.social · 2y agoOTD in early British television: on the afternoon of Friday 8 January 1937 Dallas Bower produced Burnt Sepia, a half-hour variety line-up billed as, in the racially derogatory language of the day, ‘an all-coloured cabaret’. www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/otd-in-early...
Has anyone seen any of Michael Ingrams’ documentary series ‘Look in on London’ (A-R, 1956). The two opening episodes (on street cleaners and London’s homeless population’) were shown as part of a fascinating sounding season called ‘Captive Cinema’ at the NFT
Truly an ambitious early tv ballet performance including cutaways to real swans on the Alexandra Palace lake! @illuminations.bsky.social - surprised they didn’t bring them into the studio (I love the story of the parrot who travelled by taxi from London Zoo to Ally Pally around the same time 😂)
Illuminations@illuminations.bsky.social · 2y agoOTD in early British television, Monday 13 December 1937 saw the most ambitious television ballet to date, act 2 of Le lac des cygnes, or Swan Lake. The troupe was the Vic-Wells Ballet Company, which became the Royal Ballet post-war. www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/otd-in-early...
Thank you so much John - this is exactly the thing I was after.
Can anyone recommend any really good writing on the aesthetics/appreciation of the post-industrial landscape, particularly (though not necessarily confined to) the UK? @illuminations.bsky.social - I feel like this might be something you could help with? New field for me - would like some guidance!
What a wonderful OTD today - this gives a little glimpse into the richness of @illuminations.bsky.social new work on the early history of British television
Illuminations@illuminations.bsky.social · 2y agoOn this day in early British television: on Tuesday 7 December 1937, Harry Rutherford squeezed himself into a corner of the crowded Studio A at Alexandra Palace, or so I believe, and made sketches for his painting ‘Starlight’, the most vivid and alluring image of pre-war television.
Today’s OTD is the story of a popular and critical success in early British television history from @illuminations.bsky.social
Illuminations@illuminations.bsky.social · 2y agoOTD in early British television: 6 December 1937 saw the first presentation from Alexandra Palace (pictured) of what became the most popular production among pre-war dramas. Once in a Lifetime by Moss Hart and George Kaufman, adapted for television by producer Eric Crozier, was played six times...
Hollywood royalty in today’s OTD in early British television history by @illuminations.bsky.social
Illuminations@illuminations.bsky.social · 2y agoOTD in early British television: There are some surprising names among those who appeared on the BBC's 30-line Television service from 1932 to 1935. Tuesday 5 December 1933 saw the first of two appearances by then 28-year-old Agnes de Mille, the great American dancer and Broadway choreographer.
Many thanks for resharing this @deathstudiespod.bsky.social - it was such an honour to talk to you!
The Death Studies Podcast@deathstudiespod.bsky.social · 2y ago⭐️🎄🎁Day 3🎁🎄⭐️ The Death Studies Podcast Advent Today we reflect on the relationship between television and death. We spoke with @helenwheatley.bsky.social about her book Television/Death What is your most memorable TV death?
I missed this yesterday. John Wyver ( @illuminations.bsky.social) making the critical jump from Alison Light’s between the wars “literature of convalescence” and the adaptation of an Agatha Christie story by the BBC in 1938
Illuminations@illuminations.bsky.social · 2y agoOTD in early British television: ‘First let me say that… Love From a Stranger was, beyond all possible doubt, a winner on the television screen.’ That’s Grace Wyndham Goldie on the presentation of Frank Vosper’s play from an Agatha Christie short story, first shown on Friday 2 December 1938.
Today’s OTD in early British TV history post from @illuminations.bsky.social is a St Andrew’s Day extravaganza from 1932!
Illuminations@illuminations.bsky.social · 2y agoOTD in early British television: on St Andrew’s Day 1932, the 30-line Television service presented an ambitious Scotland-themed variety show. Woolwich-born Helen McKay (real name: Ruby Ellen Northover) sang Scottish songs, as did renowned actually Scottish opera singer William Heughan...
Fast dialogue, slow shot assemblage: fascinating critical reconstruction of a 1937 broadcast of Cymbeline by @illuminations.bsky.social this morning
Illuminations@illuminations.bsky.social · 2y agoOTD in early British television, Monday 29 Nov 1937, Scenes from Cymbeline was broadcast from 3.39pm-4.24pm, and then again 9.31pm-9.55pm. This was a presentation of elements of André van Gyseghem‘s Embassy Theatre production, with (pictured) Geoffrey Toone (Posthumus), Mario Francelli (Philario).
Today’s OTD in early British television is a fascinating tale of a Birmingham based precursor to the RSC and the broadcast of Shakespeare plays and plays about Shakespeare. John Wyver shows us what we can learn about early tv drama without extant recordings
Illuminations@illuminations.bsky.social · 2y agoOTD in early British television, on 27 November 1938, the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company made its television debut with its production of 'The Wooing of Anne Hathaway'. The tradition of a major drama production each Sunday evening was already well-established...
No SCMS for me this year - a first time rejectee though it seems I am in esteemed company. On the other hand, very much looking forward to Screen where I’m delivering the keynote this year - hope to see folks in Glasgow though a shame it’s not Chicago too!
These posts from @auschwitzmemorial.bsky.social are more than heartbreaking. 19 years old. Shot after spending over a year in that hellhole. Other posts document the lives of children murdered on arrival at the camp. We really must never forget.
Auschwitz Memorial@auschwitzmemorial.bsky.social · 2y ago25 November 1922 | A Pole, Kazimierz Żakowski, was born in Jeżówka. In Auschwitz from 15 August 1940. No. 3057 He was shot in the camp on 11 November 1941.
This makes me excited for John Wyver’s new book - his detailed history of early television is going to challenge so many of our critical assumptions about that history. Also, can we please go back to calling TV viewers ‘lookers in’?
Illuminations@illuminations.bsky.social · 2y agoOTD in early television: the morning of Tuesday 25 November 1930 saw a half-hour 30-line Baird company transmission featuring singing cartoonist Rupert Harvey, contralto Cecil Lucas and ‘a sketch’ written by Ruth Maschwitz with a cast of four including the author and producer Harold Bradly…
An unusually empty weekend due to a nasty lurgy has meant y’day I watched (& loved) all of Bad Sisters & today I have been pottering around the kitchen (my teenage nursemaids have not manage to tidy as they go 🙄), making soup, & listening to this brilliant podcast podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/w...
Weekend
News Podcast · 159 Episodes · Updated weekly
podcasts.apple.com
Absolutely fascinating thread about the BBC’s Picture Page. The variety of the guests - from the last quill pen maker in England to Una Marson, a Black feminist, activist and journalist from Jamaica living and working in the UK - tells us a great deal about prewar television in the UK
Illuminations@illuminations.bsky.social · 2y agoOTD in early television: 24 November 1938 saw the 193rd edition of the magazine series ‘Picture Page’ (in the afternoon) and the 194th (in the evening); a kind of pre-war ‘One Show’, PP, which was linked by ‘switchboard girl’ Joan Miller, was the one widely recognised hit of the pre-war service…
