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Palgrave Macmillan

Evolution on British Television and Radio

Transmissions and Transmutations

  • Book
  • © 2021

Overview

Authors:
  1. Alexander Hall

    1. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

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  • Analyses how evolutionary themes have been represented across all broadcasting genres in the UK across the 20th century
  • Demonstrates how media producers play a crucial role in the translation and popularisation of scientific ideas
  • Highlights how science communication often reflects wider societal narratives and worldviews

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Science and Popular Culture (PSSPC)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Alexander Hall
    Pages 1-20

  3. Situating the Story: The Early Years of Evolution on the Wireless

    • Alexander Hall
    Pages 21-50

  4. Evolving Content for the Small Screen, from Radio to Early Television Formats

    • Alexander Hall
    Pages 51-82

  5. The Most Malleable of Minds: Evolution in Educational Broadcasting

    • Alexander Hall
    Pages 83-124

  6. Imagining Evolution: Drama and Science Fiction

    • Alexander Hall
    Pages 125-163

  7. Humanist Blockbusters: Depicting the Evolutionary Epic on Television

    • Alexander Hall
    Pages 165-212

  8. Creationism and Non-Darwinian Ideology in British Broadcasting

    • Alexander Hall
    Pages 213-239

  9. Remembering or Deifying? The Darwin Anniversaries of 1959 and 2009

    • Alexander Hall
    Pages 241-273

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 275-281
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Keywords

About this book

This book charts the history of how biological evolution has been depicted on British television and radio, from the first radio broadcast on evolution in 1925 through to the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species in 2009. Going beyond science documentaries, the chapters deal with a broad range of broadcasting content to explore evolutionary themes in radio dramas, educational content, and science fiction shows like Doctor Who. The book makes the case that the dominant use in science broadcasting of the ‘evolutionary epic’, a narrative based on a progressive vision of scientific endeavour, is part of the wider development of a standardised way of speaking about science in society during the 20th century. In covering the diverse range of approaches to depicting evolution used in British productions, the book demonstrates how their success had a global influence on the genres and formats of science broadcasting used today.

Reviews

“An important intervention that will help to advance our understanding of science broadcasting in Britain. … This quality … will attract scholars interested in science communication, the cultural history of evolution, and media history, to name just a few. … Overall, this is a fascinating cultural and intellectual history … of the twentieth century, one which will stimulate further research on the history of science communication and will be indispensable for undergraduate reading lists on the topic.” (Max Long,H-Net Reviews, h-net.org, April, 2022) “With this historical account of the presentation of evolution on British television and radio, Alexander Hall adopts an astute angle to discuss the broader and more fundamental topic of the relationship between science and religion as it played out in 20th-century broadcast media. This is a well-researched study, revealing cultural trends and patterns which could easily go un-noticed, written well for specialists and non-specialists alike.”

- Jean-Baptiste Gouyon,  author of BBC Wildlife Documentaries in the Age of Attenborough (Palgrave, 2019)

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    Alexander Hall

About the author

Alexander Hall is a historian of science and Research Fellow in the Institute for STEMM in Society and Culture at the University of Birmingham, UK. His work examines the intersections between science and the media, exploring the narrative and visual forms of science communication to better understand sciences’ role in society.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Evolution on British Television and Radio

  • Book Subtitle: Transmissions and Transmutations

  • Authors: Alexander Hall

  • Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Science and Popular Culture

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83043-4

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-83042-7Published: 01 October 2021

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-83045-8Published: 02 October 2022

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-83043-4Published: 30 September 2021

  • Series ISSN: 2731-4359

  • Series E-ISSN: 2731-4367

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XV, 281

  • Number of Illustrations: 7 b/w illustrations, 7 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: British Cinema and TV, Evolutionary Biology

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