All Outputs (65)

Media cities and the reconstruction of space and place (2023)
Presentation / Conference
Spicer, A. (2023, November). Media cities and the reconstruction of space and place. Presented at Invited talk, Portico Library, Central Manchester

This presentation explores the concept of a 'media city'. It begins with a definition: media cities are a planned, highly structured intervention that is part of a transformational change in the urban landscape. The presentation then discusses a part... Read More about Media cities and the reconstruction of space and place.

Bristol’s film and television industries: An incremental ecosystem (2023)
Book Chapter
Spicer, A. (2023). Bristol’s film and television industries: An incremental ecosystem. In T. E. Virani (Ed.), Global creative ecosystems: A critical understanding of sustainable creative and cultural production (115-133). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33961-5

This chapter explores the growth and characteristics of Bristol’s screen industries, which consist principally of television production companies and a much smaller group engaged in feature film production. In contrast to what one could call ‘enginee... Read More about Bristol’s film and television industries: An incremental ecosystem.

Sarah Godfrey, masculinity in British cinema, 1990–2010 (2023)
Journal Article
Spicer, A. (2023). Sarah Godfrey, masculinity in British cinema, 1990–2010. Journal of British Cinema and Television, 20(2), 262-264. https://doi.org/10.3366/jbctv.2023.0671

Although much comment is passed about male characters and identities in discussions of British cinema, systematic studies of masculinity are extremely rare. To my knowledge, Sarah Godfrey’s is the first to appear since my own Typical Men: The Represe... Read More about Sarah Godfrey, masculinity in British cinema, 1990–2010.

Cinema and soft power: Configuring the national and transnational in geo-politics (2023)
Journal Article
Spicer, A. (2023). Cinema and soft power: Configuring the national and transnational in geo-politics. Transnational Screens, 14(1), 81-82. https://doi.org/10.1080/25785273.2023.2184921

As the contributors to this valuable collection all attest, the concept of ‘soft power’ can be traced to the political scientist Joseph Nye, who, after an initial attempt in 1990, published Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics (2004). N... Read More about Cinema and soft power: Configuring the national and transnational in geo-politics.

Combined blogs (2022)
Working Paper
Spicer, A. Combined blogs

These four blogs/working papers constitute one of the outputs from a research project that explores the ways in which Channel 4's relocation out of London in 2017-18 constitues a significant event for the brodcaster - the 'largest shake-up in its his... Read More about Combined blogs.

‘4 All the UK’: The policies and politics of relocation (2022)
Journal Article
Spicer, A. (2022). ‘4 All the UK’: The policies and politics of relocation. Viewfinder, 121,

This article discusses the cultural, social and political reasons why Channel 4 moved out of London in 2017-18 and the context of the move with the threat of privatisation by the government. It places Channel 4's relocation as part of a much longer h... Read More about ‘4 All the UK’: The policies and politics of relocation.

Channel 4 at 40: The TV revolution (2022)
Presentation / Conference
Spicer, A. (2022, December). Channel 4 at 40: The TV revolution. Presented at Channel 4 at 40: The TV Revolution in Bristol, Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol

This is the full text of my opening introduction to a public-facing event at the Arnolfini Gallery on 3 December 2022 entitled 'Channel 4 at 40: The TV Revoution in Bristol'. In this overview I provide the social, political, cultural and historical... Read More about Channel 4 at 40: The TV revolution.

Exploring stardom: Sean Connery (2022)
Presentation / Conference
Spicer, A. (2022, September). Exploring stardom: Sean Connery

Sean Connery was one of a select few stars who have become an instantly recognisable cultural icon whose image and distinctive voice have penetrated deeply into global popular culture and public consciousness. Best known as the screen’s ‘first’ Ja... Read More about Exploring stardom: Sean Connery.

Sean Connery: Beyond Bond (2022)
Exhibition / Performance
Spicer, A. Sean Connery: Beyond Bond. [Word document with embedded podcast]. Performed at Bristol. 25 August 2022 - 25 August 2022. (Unpublished)

This is the background text to my podcast for Watershed Cultural Cinema, September 2022, that accompanied the launch of my book - Sean Connery: Acting, Stardom and National Identity at Watershed on 4 September 2022. It also contains my brief introduc... Read More about Sean Connery: Beyond Bond.

Sean Connery: Acting, Stardom and National Identity (2022)
Book
Spicer, A. (2022). Sean Connery: Acting, Stardom and National Identity. Manchester: Manchester University Press

This study provides an authoritative and comprehensive account of the career of one of one modern cinema’s most distinctive stars, an instantly recognisable cultural icon whose image and distinctive voice have penetrated deeply into global popular cu... Read More about Sean Connery: Acting, Stardom and National Identity.

GO WEST! 2 Bristol's Film and Television Industries (2022)
Report
Spicer, A., Presence, S., & Frymus, A. (2022). GO WEST! 2 Bristol's Film and Television Industries. Bristol: UWE Bristol

This report updates and substantially extends the 2017 report, Go West! Bristol's Film and Television Industries. It revises all the statistical information, including the number of companies. The report analyses the major changes that have occurred... Read More about GO WEST! 2 Bristol's Film and Television Industries.

Bond and stardom (2022)
Presentation / Conference
Spicer, A. (2022, March). Bond and stardom. Presented at Cinematic Bond at 60: National and International Perspectives

Bond has become a modern and enduring folk hero and cultural icon, which has profound implications for the six actors who have played the role. In examining this, somewhat neglected, facet of that phenomenon – Bond and stardom – I argue that playing... Read More about Bond and stardom.

Writing film industry history (2021)
Book Chapter
Spicer, A. (2021). Writing film industry history. In P. McDonald (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Media Industries (429-438). London and New York: Routledge

This chapter provides a critical overview of the main ways in which film industry history has been formulated and described. It argues that any account must address three basic questions: (i) how film industry history has been defined and delimited (... Read More about Writing film industry history.

Public service broadcasters as place-makers and the politics of relocation (2021)
Presentation / Conference
Spicer, A. (2021, July). Public service broadcasters as place-makers and the politics of relocation. Presented at New Frontiers? Channel 4’s Move out of London, Online

This keynote discusses the place-making role of the UK's Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs). It argues that although PSBs are committed, by statute, to representing the diverse cultures of the UK's nations (Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) and i... Read More about Public service broadcasters as place-makers and the politics of relocation.

Making it real: A policy programme for UK documentary film (2021)
Report
Presence, S., Quigley, A., & Spicer, A. (2021). Making it real: A policy programme for UK documentary film. Bristol: AHRC

This report outlines a new policy programme for the UK documentary film sector. Based on the extensive consultation that followed our previous report, Keeping It Real: Towards a Documentary Film Policy for the UK (2020) – itself based on the largest... Read More about Making it real: A policy programme for UK documentary film.

The impresario in British cinema: Bernard Delfont at EMI (2021)
Journal Article
Spicer, A. (2021). The impresario in British cinema: Bernard Delfont at EMI. Journal of British Cinema and Television, 18(1), 7-33. https://doi.org/10.3366/jbctv.2021.0553

The article argues that Bernard Delfont played a significant role in the development of the British film industry in the 1970s as head of EMI’s entertainment division that included film. In contradistinction to existing accounts, it is contended that... Read More about The impresario in British cinema: Bernard Delfont at EMI.

Parting the iron curtain: Michael Klinger’s attempt to make 'A Man and a Half' (2020)
Book Chapter
Spicer, A. (2020). Parting the iron curtain: Michael Klinger’s attempt to make 'A Man and a Half'. In J. Fenwick, K. Foster, & D. Eldridge (Eds.), Shadow Cinema: The Historical and Production Context of Unmade Films (57-70). (1). Bloomsbury Publishing

Between 1967 and 1984, British independent producer Michael Klinger attempted to make a war film initially called Parachute that was renamed A Man and a Half. It was an international production through which as Klinger hoped to establish himself as a... Read More about Parting the iron curtain: Michael Klinger’s attempt to make 'A Man and a Half'.

Keeping it real: Towards a documentary film policy for the UK (2020)
Report
Presence, S., Spicer, A., Quigley, A., & Green, E. (2020). Keeping it real: Towards a documentary film policy for the UK. Bristol: AHRC

This report presents the findings of a survey of UK feature documentary producers and directors that was conducted in the summer of 2019 under the auspices of the ‘UK Feature Docs’ research project, an AHRC-funded study of the UK’s feature-length doc... Read More about Keeping it real: Towards a documentary film policy for the UK.

Male stardom in 1960s British cinema (2020)
Book Chapter
Spicer, A. (2020). Male stardom in 1960s British cinema. In Sixties British Cinema Reconsidered (11-28). Edinburgh University

The chapter analyses eight stars – Alan Bates, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Tom Courtenay, Albert Finney, Richard Harris, Peter O’Toole and Terence Stamp – all of whom were the product of the post-war changes (including the 1944 Education Act) that o... Read More about Male stardom in 1960s British cinema.

A regional company? RED Production and the cultural politics of place (2019)
Journal Article
Spicer, A. (2019). A regional company? RED Production and the cultural politics of place. Journal of British Cinema and Television, 16(3), 273-304. https://doi.org/10.3366/jbctv.2019.0478

This article explores the significance of RED Production’s location in the north-west of England, analysing the complexities of its positioning as a ‘regional’ company contextualised within the broader issues surrounding regional television productio... Read More about A regional company? RED Production and the cultural politics of place.