Ancient Greece on British Television

Exploring the cultural politics of televisual engagements with the history, literature and material culture of ancient Greece

Ancient Greece has inspired television producers and captivated viewing audiences in the United Kingdom for over half a century. By examining how and why political, social and cultural narratives of Greece have been constructed through television's distinctive audiovisual languages, and also in relation to its influential sister-medium radio, this volume explores the nature and function of these public engagements with the written and material remains of the Hellenic past.

Through ten case studies drawn from feature programmes, educational broadcasts, children's animations, theatre play productions, dramatic fiction and documentaries broadcast across the decades, this collection offers wide-ranging insights into the significance of ancient Greece on British television.

Fiona Hobden is Senior Lecturer in Greek Culture at the University of Liverpool. Amanda Wrigley is Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Film, Theatre and Television at the University of Reading.


Cover image: Sophocles' Electra, performed as Play Of The Month on BBC1, 1974 © BBC Photo Library

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ISBN 978-1-4744-1259-9
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Contents; Acknowledgements; Contributors; Illustrations; Tables; Abbreviations; Chapters; Broadcasting Greece: An Introduction to Greek Antiquity on the Small Screen, Fiona Hobden and Amanda Wrigley; 1. Are We the Greeks? Understanding Antiquity and Ourselves in Television Documentaries, Fiona Hobden; 2. Louis MacNeice and 'The Paragons of Hellas': Ancient Greece as Radio Propaganda, Peter Golphin; 3. The Beginnings of Civilisation: Television Travels to Greece with Mortimer Wheeler and Compton Mackenzie, John Wyver; 4. Tragedy for Teens: Ancient Greek Tragedy on BBC and ITV School Television in the 1960s, Amanda Wrigley; 5. The Serpent Son (1979): A Science Fiction Aesthetic?, Tony Keen; 6. Don Taylor, the 'old-fashioned populist'? The Theban Plays (1986) and Iphigenia at Aulis (1990): Production Choices and Audience Responses, Lynn Fotheringham; 7. The Odyssey in the 'Broom Cupboard': Ulysses 31 and Odysseus: The Greatest Hero of them All on 'Children's BBC', 1985-6, Sarah Miles; 8. Greek Myth in the Whoniverse, Amanda Potter; 9. The Digital Aesthetic in Atlantis: The Evidence (2010), Anna Foka ; 10. Greece in the Making: From Intention to Practicalities in Television Documentaries. A Conversation with Michael Scott and David Wilson, Fiona Hobden ; Bibliography; Endnotes.