Civilisation and the Rise of the Television Blockbuster Documentary

Mary Irwin

doi:10.3366/jbctv.2017.0378

Civilisation and the Rise of the Television Blockbuster Documentary

Mary Irwin

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

This article examines how Civilisation created a formula for putting together and presenting documentary series on British television using expensive production values and a well-respected presenter to introduce serious cultural content. It explores the international and historic impact of Civilisation, which became the blueprint for a whole range of popular, high-budget, internationally co-produced documentary series from the early 1970s onwards: the ‘blockbuster documentary’.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	361-376
Journal	Journal of British Cinema and Television
Volume	14
Issue number	3
Early online date	30 Jun 2017
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3366/jbctv.2017.0378
Publication status	Published - Jul 2017

Keywords

arts programming
BBC2
Civilisation
David Attenborough
John Berger
Kenneth Clark
Monitor
Ways of Seeing

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10.3366/jbctv.2017.0378

Cite this

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Civilisation and the Rise of the Television Blockbuster Documentary

Abstract

Keywords

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