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
Thanks for sharing, @illuminations.bsky.social 😊
A 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...
Do read - and add your own future projects needing independent access for exploratory research.
cstonline.net/defending-th...
Defending the WAC: All the things I haven’t (yet) written by Helen Wheatley
People following the last few weeks of the Critical Studies in Television blog will have seen my brilliant colleagues discussing the essential work that they have been able to do thanks to the…
cstonline.net
October 17, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Thanks for sharing, @illuminations.bsky.social 😊
Beautiful
April 18, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Beautiful
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...
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
www.gold.ac.uk
April 16, 2025 at 10:26 PM
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...
www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id...
@illuminations.bsky.social revealing the identity of The Scanner (at last!) As ever, impeccable historical research from my friend and colleague John Wyver
OTD 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...
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...
OTD in early British television: 18 February 1939 - Illuminations
John Wyver writes: Just after 10pm on Saturday 18 February 1939 the AP schedule carried an unbilled 3-minute item titled Special Transmission. This was a short interview with the Mr Edgar Charloe of A...
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk
February 18, 2025 at 1:20 PM
@illuminations.bsky.social revealing the identity of The Scanner (at last!) As ever, impeccable historical research from my friend and colleague John Wyver
Time to get your Screen proposals submitted. Hope to see you there!
Didn'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...
screenstudiesconference.com/2024/08/30/c...
Call for Papers
This year Screen RE-turns. Most obviously because after a one-year hiatus the 33rd Screen Conference in 2025 is back, and returning to its familiar location in the Gilmorehill Halls at the Uni…
screenstudiesconference.com
January 14, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Time to get your Screen proposals submitted. Hope to see you there!
The fascinating story of Britain’s first all Black cabaret programme for TV
OTD 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...
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...
OTD in early British television: 8 January 1937 - Illuminations
John Wyver writes: 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 ...
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk
January 8, 2025 at 7:12 AM
The fascinating story of Britain’s first all Black cabaret programme for TV
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
January 7, 2025 at 9:49 PM
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 😂)
OTD 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...
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/otd-in-early...
December 13, 2024 at 10:05 AM
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 😂)
Thank you so much John - this is exactly the thing I was after.
December 10, 2024 at 8:49 AM
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!
December 9, 2024 at 11:32 PM
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
On 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.
December 7, 2024 at 1:52 PM
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
Today’s OTD is the story of a popular and critical success in early British television history from @illuminations.bsky.social
OTD 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...
December 6, 2024 at 9:39 AM
Today’s OTD is the story of a popular and critical success in early British television history from @illuminations.bsky.social
Hollywood royalty in today’s OTD in early British television history by @illuminations.bsky.social
OTD 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.
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.
December 5, 2024 at 8:50 AM
Hollywood royalty in today’s OTD in early British television history by @illuminations.bsky.social
Many thanks for resharing this @deathstudiespod.bsky.social - it was such an honour to talk to you!
⭐️🎄🎁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?
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?
December 3, 2024 at 4:16 PM
Many thanks for resharing this @deathstudiespod.bsky.social - it was such an honour to talk to you!
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
OTD 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.
December 3, 2024 at 8:27 AM
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
Today’s OTD in early British TV history post from @illuminations.bsky.social is a St Andrew’s Day extravaganza from 1932!
OTD 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...
November 30, 2024 at 8:43 AM
Today’s OTD in early British TV history post from @illuminations.bsky.social is a St Andrew’s Day extravaganza from 1932!
Fast dialogue, slow shot assemblage: fascinating critical reconstruction of a 1937 broadcast of Cymbeline by @illuminations.bsky.social this morning
OTD 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).
November 29, 2024 at 9:04 AM
Fast dialogue, slow shot assemblage: fascinating critical reconstruction of a 1937 broadcast of Cymbeline by @illuminations.bsky.social this morning
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
OTD 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...
November 27, 2024 at 7:39 PM
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
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!
November 26, 2024 at 7:03 AM
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.
25 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.
In Auschwitz from 15 August 1940.
No. 3057
He was shot in the camp on 11 November 1941.
November 25, 2024 at 6:19 PM
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.
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’?
OTD 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…
November 25, 2024 at 9:57 AM
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’?
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
November 24, 2024 at 1:35 PM
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...
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
OTD 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…
November 24, 2024 at 10:11 AM
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
On the streets of Liverpool, there is a humanitarian crisis
A perfect storm of problems means more and more people are finding themselves homeless & sleeping rough & it’s getting worse - it’s a situation playing out across the country
A difficult 🧵 on what I’ve found reporting on this situation
A perfect storm of problems means more and more people are finding themselves homeless & sleeping rough & it’s getting worse - it’s a situation playing out across the country
A difficult 🧵 on what I’ve found reporting on this situation
November 23, 2024 at 8:06 AM
Reposted by Helen Wheatley (she/her)
OTD in early television stays with November 1937; Tuesday 23 saw the outside broadcast van at Elstree for a third group of ‘Round the Film Studios’ broadcasts; Elstree (photo, from Radio Times) was the base of Associated British Picture Corporation, and this followed visits to Pinewood and Denham…
November 23, 2024 at 7:22 AM
OTD in early television stays with November 1937; Tuesday 23 saw the outside broadcast van at Elstree for a third group of ‘Round the Film Studios’ broadcasts; Elstree (photo, from Radio Times) was the base of Associated British Picture Corporation, and this followed visits to Pinewood and Denham…