Tales of Everyday Drinking: Risk, Alcohol and Government Advice
“My name is …and I’m an alcoholic” – Wednesday, 13 January – 10pm on Channel 5 We have a complicated relationship with alcohol. Many of us are as likely to drink to drown our sorrows as we are to celebrate our successes....
More…
‘Serving the Public?’ Media, Politics and The NHS
We have medical programmes to suit our every taste. Currently viewers can choose high drama with Channel 4s’ ’24 Hours in A & E‘ filming around the clock in Kings College Hospital, London or everyday stories of sore throats, stress...
More…
Cancer Charities and the fight for Public Health (and Media Profile)
Charity campaigns designed to shock are more and more commonplace. What does this tell us about the charity sector, and do these campaigns impact negatively on the ‘real’ work a charity undertakes?
More…
Poverty in Primetime – Reality TV in the Age of Austerity
For most developed countries the concept of “food poverty” is controversial. A recent report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation highlighted that living costs have risen 25% in the past five years and placed an “unprecedented” financial burden on the poor”....
More…
All in the (Celebrity) Genes: The Angelina Jolie Effect
Actor, humanitarian and global icon Angelina Jolie announced this week that she had undergone a prophylactic double mastectomy. This news both shocked and intrigued audiences across the world. Jolie told her story in the New York Times. She had tested...
More…
Measles, MMR vaccination and the Media
The measles outbreak in South Wales is the largest in a decade and over 800 children are affected. Public health officials are warning that this childhood disease can be life-threatening with complications including pneumonia and long term damage to the...
More…
Doctors in Popular Fiction: The Everyday Drama of Medicine #1
Doctors in Popular Fiction occupy an extraordinary position in contemporary television and film and we can all probably list our favourite shows and characters. These stories deliver intense drama with high production values and range from the modern but compassionate...
More…
Don’t Take My Baby! Social Care in the Soaps
BBC EastEnders has a reputation for socially realistic gritty drama but recently commentators have been asking if the programme has gone too far. The current story attracting a spate of complaints involves a social work storyline which has caused the...
More…
Public Outrage Saves Lives?
So is this ‘the most horrifying ad’ ever made? The new advert by St John ambulance is entitled Helpless. In just two minutes we witness various scenes from the life of a man diagnosed with cancer. The advert is shot beautifully...
More…
Gender, sexuality and mental illness in Homeland
The American television network Showtime is becoming synonymous with highly acclaimed drama and post 9/11 series Homeland (2011) is no exception. Barack Obama is reportedly a huge fan of the programme and millions of UK viewers watched the tense series...
More…
Extreme Breastfeeding?
Few issues generate more controversy than breastfeeding and whether women breast or bottle feed their infants (with the exception perhaps of ‘natural’ versus ‘caesarian’ births). So what happens if the story features not an infant but a toddler or older...
More…
Saving Helen? Social Responsibility and Domestic Violence in The Archers