Viewing Britain, viewing Europe; BBC television and national identity under the Conservatives, 1990-1997

Part I examines the historical context in which the Conservative government became preocupied with the question of British national identity and their policy response in the cultural domain with specific reference to the BBC's perceived potential as a "nation-building" tool; catpub01; geudbu/12.2001; Part II analyses how the BBC interpreted the cultural identification role ascribed to it, and how Conservative "One Nationism" could be seen manifesting itself in programme output; catpub01; geudbu/12.2001; Part III is an ethnographic study of the television audience which endeavours to scrutinise how viewers received and interpreted BBC programmes and the "One Nation" message; catpub01; geudbu/12.2001; The study reveals in what ways the BBC (and television in general) might assist or hinder identification with a particular identity rhetoric. The methodology, which is a tri-partite analysis of the context of production, content and reception of television, aims to re-historicise the study of television; catpub01; geudbu/12.2001