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BBC Television Comedy Since the 2000s: Corporate Innovation and Changing National Identity book cover

1st Edition

BBC Television Comedy Since the 2000s Corporate Innovation and Changing National Identity

By Alex Symons Copyright 2027
128 Pages
by Routledge

This book examines how BBC Television's embrace of new executive voices, digital technology, and independent production companies in the early 2000s gave rise to a new era of innovation in comedy, aesthetically and culturally.   Drawing on exclusive interviews with key industry figures, the book traces these corporate innovations, with a focus on the shift from traditional analogue pathways... Read more

1. Reinventing BBC TV Comedy: New Corporate Strategies and Risk-taking, 2000-2020s; 2. BBC Three’s Experimentation: Working Class Subcultures; 3. iPlayer and Streaming-Only: Famalam; 4. Comedy Feeds and YouTube: Man Like Mobeen; 5. “Global” BBC Star: Romesh Ranganathan; 6. Conclusion; BBC Interviews; Index

Biography

Alex Symons is Associate Professor in Communication and Media Studies at LIM College in New York City, USA. He received his PhD from the University of Nottingham, and is the author of the monographs Women Comedians in the Digital Age (2023) and Mel Brooks in the Cultural Industries (2012), as well as numerous chapters in edited collections and articles in journals, including the Journal of Popular Film and Television, the Journal of Applied Journalism and Media Studies, and Celebrity Studies. He is also an editorial board member for the Journal of Popular Culture.

"While the history of television's last two decades is typically dominated by discussion of streaming and online platforms, this book demonstrates the BBC's comedy department since 2000 was a more ripe site for novelty and experimentation. Discussing groundbreaking series including Famalam, 15 Stories High and Asian Provocateur, Symons makes clear comedy's vital contribution to the BBC's societal remit, and humour's potential for disrupting social and programming norms. Featuring extensive and fascinating interviews with key players responsible for series such as Ideal and Man Like Mobeen, this book is essential for anyone interested in contemporary UK television and humour, making a convincing case for the centrality of comedy to the BBC's public duties."

-- Brett Mills, Honorary Professor, University of East Anglia, author of The Sitcom and Television Sitcom.

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